


Wawanakwa High Drama Club

by LittleGreenBean



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Male Character, F/F, F/M, Gen, LGBTQ Character of Color, Lesbian Character, Recreational Drug Use, Romance, Theatre Dumbasses, Underage Drug Use, semi heathers au i guess, total drama high school au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2020-06-27 07:45:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19786399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleGreenBean/pseuds/LittleGreenBean
Summary: Wawanakwa High is a cheap high school with an even poorer Drama Club run by the stressed stage manager, Courtney Flores. They struggle with budget issues, drama, popularity races, and relationships all while trying to put on a half-decent production of Heathers.Sammy-centric fic.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I know, I know, this is not an original concept. This has been done a thousand times, but I still wanted to do this after Total DramaRama was introduced (the development for this fic got hella delayed lol, I wrote this author's note like a year ago), and I had written a ‘Total Drama High School’ AU in 2015, so I figured I might as well write a new one. Loosely based off of another abandoned TD High School fic I wrote last year.
> 
> This high school is grades 9-12, ages 14-18, using the American schooling system because it makes things easier as an American. There will be gay/lesbian/poly couples, so if you aren’t a fan, I suggest you leave. OCs, Stoked, and 6teen characters will also appear, but they won't have heavy roles. It just wouldn't make sense to have a school of just TD characters. 
> 
> Comments/reviews are very much appreciated!
> 
> Well, without further ado, let’s begin!

The halls of Wawanakwa High were immensely crowded, as it was the first day of school. Several lockers lined the main hallway. Posters hung around the school, showing various reminders for school events and cheesy inspirational posters. Most of the students were doing average things: opening their lockers, talking amongst each other, or listening to music.

Two teen girls stood next to a locker. They looked identical; save for the beauty mark on the girl on the right, the disdainful expression of the girl on the left, and the clothes they adorned. The one on the left was carrying two backpacks and three books, whereas the one on the right was glaring at her sister. 

“Samey, give me my makeup bag! Now!” The one on the right demanded. She wore a stereotypical cheer uniform with Wawanakwa High’s signature letterman over it, a trophy from one of her many past relationships.

The one deemed Samey balanced the books on her knee and pulled out a red makeup bag. She was dressed much more normally, with a red hoodie and blue skinny jeans. 

“It’s Sammy…” She muttered as she passed her twin a red makeup bag.

The bell rang, signaling the teens to get to class. People around them began walking to their classes.

“If you were faster; I could’ve put on my lip gloss! Ugh! Just take me to math!” The mean twin glared.

“Yes, Amy…” Sammy sighed as the duo began walking down A-Hall. Students flooded the halls, bumping into each other and lining up for their classes. Amy smiled and waved, greeting everyone she knew as she strutted down the hallway like she was royalty. Occasionally she shot Sammy a disdainful glance like she was her servant.

Sometimes, Sammy wished she treated her that well.

Soon, they reached Ms. McMullen’s classroom, who happened to be the cheer coach as well. 

“Hey, Amy! It’s always great to see you. How was your weekend?” Ms. McMullen asked. Sammy rolled her bright, teal eyes. Ms. McMullen had always favored Amy over her, but it’s not like that was new to Sammy.

Sammy sighed, leaning against the lockers as she listened to them drone on until the tardy bell rang. Amy snatched her bags from her sister. 

“Oh, sorry, sis. I guess you’re late for class! You should reeaallly start being faster, shouldn’t you? You’re always the slow one,” Amy said, her voice set into her condescending shrill. Sammy anxiously scratched her wrists, trudging to Science with her bag in tow. 

The hall was empty by now, aside from a few lost students and the regulars who skip. Sammy speed-walked down to the Science Wing, entering her first period. 

“Samey, you’re late,” Mr. Garcia said, smirking. “You’re lucky tardies don’t count until the second day. Sammy trudged to an empty seat, glancing at the floor.

“Sorry, sir,” she peeped before taking out her notebook.

/\/\/\/\/\

The rest of the day felt like nothing to Sammy. Her head lingered in the clouds as she autonomously took notes and pretended to pay attention. 

Sammy shook her head, getting her mind back to reality. The final bell rang, dismissing the class. Everyone around her had packed up, but she was still sitting with her notebook and pencils out. Sammy perked up slightly. She shoved her pencils and books into her bag and threw it on.

Sammy began her walk at a brisk speed. Past the other teens, who were meeting up with their friends or getting things out of their lockers before heading home.

Not Sammy, though.

She hurried, standing in front of the door to a classroom. It was rather average looking, with a small window on the door and a suspicious-looking chip on the doorframe. 

But to Sammy, it was the entrance to heaven. 

Sammy swung the door open. There were a few people there already, talking or keeping to themselves. A mocha skinned girl looked up as she entered. She had two notebooks in front of her. 

“Hello, Samantha. Thank you for retaining your status as a member of the drama club,” She greeted professionally. Sammy gave a nod. 

“Thanks, Courtney.”

Sammy sat down awkwardly and took out her new theatre notebook. She wrote ‘drama club’ on it in dark, black ink. She doodled fancy borders on the pages with shaky hands, waiting for everyone to show up.

The room filled up quickly. Most of the usuals from last year had stayed, along with a few other people. Sammy found herself sitting with three other people.

There was Gwen, who had been on the theatre crew last year. Sammy never really talked to her because she was always so reserved and cold. She usually worked on painting the sets and designing posters.

Shawn sat diagonally from Sammy. They were both sophomores, so they knew each other vaguely. They had a few mutual friends and hung out in the same group before. Still, they didn’t really talk. Sammy managed a polite smile, which Shawn returned.

The last person at the table was a mere stranger to Sammy. She had a tough look to her, as shown by her stoic expression and her bulging muscles. Her hair was tightly pulled back into a ponytail, accentuating her bushy monobrow. Sammy tried to make eye contact but was simply ignored.

Thankfully, Courtney saved her from the slightly awkward moment.

“Alright, welcome, fellow thespians!” Courtney began, standing on the desk.

“I see a lot of familiar faces here today,” the stage manager continued, looking down at everyone from her makeshift pedestal. “Along with some new ones.” The students looked around at each other as Courtney spoke.

“First, let’s start with introductions,” she smiled. “I’ll pass out a little notecard. Write down your name, whether or not you’re new, if you’re doing cast or crew, and something about yourself!” 

“Lame, this isn’t middle school, Courtney,” a punk boy complained. Courtney narrowed her eyes.

“Duncan, I could care less about your fake “I give no fucks” attitude. Just make the damn notecard, ‘kay?” She hissed back before smiling and retaining her previous poise.

Gwen rolled her eyes as she accepted her notecard. Sammy frowned and took hers. Shawn began scribbling on his, using a broken green crayon. The buff girl finished hers in less than thirty seconds, writing in messy, doctor-like cursive.

“So, um, how was you guys' first day?” Sammy asked awkwardly.

“Low-key,” Gwen replied.

“Shitty,” Shawn added.

“Agreed,” the buff girl spoke.

“I see.”

After around five minutes, Courtney stood up again, clapping to get everyone’s attention. 

“Okay, let’s share our answers now!” Courtney smiled. She pulled out her own notecard, neatly arranged in font-like penmanship.

“I’ll start. I am Courtney Flores, stage manager, obviously, I’m not a new member. I love staying organized and making lists.” The students clapped a few times, as per theatre etiquette.

A few more people shared. Lindsay. Beardo. Scarlett. All the names seemed to blend together to Sammy. Soon, it was the buff girl at her table’s turn. She stood up.

“Eva. Crew. New. Sports,” she read off before sitting back down. A few awkward claps rung out before Gwen stood up with a sigh.

“I’m Gwen, doing crew. I like drawing, and I was here last year.”

Courtney sighed. This icebreaker game wasn’t really working like she hoped it would. 

“ _I should’ve just had us play concentration._ ”

Shawn went, and then it was Sammy’s turn. She gulped and stood.

“H-hey, I’m Same-er, Sammy,” she anxiously smiled. “I’m doing crew like I did last year, that’s pretty much it.” The room clapped for her, and she sat down, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Hey,” Gwen whispered to Sammy.

“You were fine. Plus, nobody was even paying attention.”

“Thanks.” Sammy smiled.

Eventually, the last of the introductions were done, and Courtney took the floor again.

“Alright, if you’re doing crew, go to the left side of the room. If you’re planning on auditioning for a part, go to the right side.” The room quickly divided. Since Sammy was already on the left side, she stayed seated, along with everyone else at her table.

Courtney made her way over to Sammy’s group.

“Okay, so, older theatre crew members will get seniority over newer ones, so keep that in mind when you get your role.” Shawn and Sammy high-fived at this as a few others smiled.

“Gwen will be in charge of all set design, so check in with her whenever you have questions or anything,” Courtney said, gesturing to the goth. Gwen raised an eyebrow and smirked at Courtney, who gave a small chuckle before regaining her composure.

Sammy watched with mild curiosity. She didn’t really expect Gwen and Courtney to have a friendship of sorts. Sammy never really saw them talk last year.

“Beardo is in charge of any sound effects and music.” Beardo let out a ‘ding’ noise and raised a thumbs up at this. 

“Shawn is on costume designing.” 

“And, Sammy.” Sammy’s eyes widened. Sammy didn’t think she stood out enough to be in charge of something.

“You’re in charge of lights,” Courtney smiled.

“As for the rest you, figure out who wants to work on what and write it down. One or two people help each leader. Everyone will have to wheel in props as well, so take note of that.” Courtney tossed them a clipboard and walked to the cast side of the room.

“Ooh! Can I do costume design?” Lindsay asked eagerly. Shawn shrugged.

“I don’t see why not.”

“Yay!” Lindsay hugged Shawn. Shawn smiled awkwardly.

“Ooookay,” Gwen said, rolling her eyes. “Who wants to help design sets?” Scarlett cleared her throat.

“I would like to assist in the construction aspect of set design,” Scarlett volunteered. Gwen nodded.

“Izzy’s gonna work with the funny beard guy!” Izzy exclaimed, fluffing up his mane of hair. Beardo tried swatting her hands away to no avail. Eva’s mouth twitched at this in an almost-smile.

“As do I.” She simply said. Izzy hopped onto Eva’s shoulders and continued messing with Beardo’s hair.

“I guess I’ll help Sammy with lighting?” Zoey offered. Sammy grabbed the clipboard, writing down everyone’s roles for the play. 

She looked around at everyone- Lindsay making a puppet show with her hands, Gwen sketching, Shawn climbing onto the filing cabinet, Izzy being annoying, Eva standing emotionlessly, Zoey eating a granola bar, and Scarlett reading- and smiled.

“Things are looking up for me,” Sammy said to herself.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Hello, all,” Courtney said, looking at the people auditioning for the play.

“Being on the cast is very important. No matter if you’re the big lead or just part of the ensemble, we all have our roles to play.”

“Even if you don’t get the role you hoped for, just know that everyone has to do their part and bring in 100% effort every rehearsal,” Courtney finished, smiling at the cast.

“Um, what musical are we doing, Courtney?” Beth asked timidly.

“Well, currently we have the rights to do two,” Courtney said, pulling out her binder.

“We can do Cinderella.” Ella smiled at the prospect of playing a real Disney princess. 

“Or, we could do Heathers.” The real Heather perked up at this before masking her slight excitement at that.

“God, these sound so lame,” Duncan complained loudly, looking up from the skull he was carving into the desk. Courtney’s brown eyes narrowed.

“I mean, Cinderella? We aren’t _five years old_.” Ella frowned at this as Duncan continued his rant.

“And Heathers? I already hate the real Heather,” Duncan said, jabbing a thumb at the dark-haired girl, who flipped him off in return.

“Um, no offense, but why are you even here if you don’t want to do this?” Tyler asked the punk, who rolled his eyes.

“McLame made me sign up for an extracurricular because of all the detentions I got last year. He said it would be a ‘positive influence’ or something. It was either this or Harold’s weird-ass hentai club.” Tyler frowned.

“ _As I was saying_ ,” Courtney seethed through clenched teeth.

“We’re going to do readings of scenes from each musical and get a feel for each one before everyone votes on it,” she explained.

“But first, fill out this audition form.” Everyone groaned as Courtney passed out papers from her binder.

“Take it home to get signed by your parents and bring it back tomorrow, you have the rest of play rehearsal time to work on it.” 

Courtney walked over to the crew side of the room. She picked up the clipboard and transferred the information to her binder. 

“Okay, so, obviously theatre isn’t the most funded program,” the CIT admitted as Gwen snickered. Courtney flushed red.

“We made an outstanding $22.30 from last years show, so that’s great. The school provided us with thirty bucks for this year, which is pretty generous by the school’s standards,” she continued.

Wawanakwa wasn’t exactly the best school out there. The principal had a habit of laundering money and rarely gave funds to programs other than himself and sports.

“I think with personal funds and such we could maybe get around twenty more dollars for the budget.”

“All in all, we only have around seventy dollars for the show. We’d also need to earn it all back. We’re going to have to do some serious budget-stretching to make this show the absolute best it can be,” Courtney finished. Scarlett raised her hand.

“If you have something to say, Scarlett, just says it, we’re all equals here.”

“May I be in charge of managing the budget?” The redhead asked. Courtney nodded before explaining the options for the musicals they would be performing.

“You guys will also have a vote for the musical. You’ll get to observe each script and see which one would be the best financially and realistically, as this is just a school play.”

“Any ‘leaders’ I assigned for the crew will be helping me cast the roles as well,” Courtney said, finishing her little monologue.

The crew nodded. Izzy hopped off of Eva’s back and landed on the ground, rolling in a ball as she did. Courtney scribbled something into her large binder before pulling out some papers.

“Oh, and fill these out and bring it back tomorrow.” The crew groaned and began to fill out the forms.

“So, what musical would you guys like to do?” Shawn asked.

“Personally, I’d say Heathers,” Gwen replied. “The movie was really good.”

“Oh, I’ve never seen Hannahs, but it sounds good! I wanna do Cinderella though,” Lindsay said dreamily. Sammy chuckled at her misunderstanding.

“Honestly though, I’d be fine with either,” Sammy said. Shawn nodded.

“Same here, but I am pretty excited for theatre this year. Last year was fun.” The older members smiled, reminiscing on it. 

“This is my first year here on theatre, I just moved to Wawanakwa this Summer,” Zoey said. 

“Oh, really?” Beardo said, looking up from his form.

“Yeah, but it seems like a nice place.” Everyone else laughed at this.

“W-what’s so funny?”

“Yeah, this is not a nice place,” Shawn sighed, hopping from the filing cabinet and landing on the table with a thud.

“Oh. Well, you guys seem nice, at least.” Zoey smiled.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The cast filled out their forms too. A few of them talked to each other as they did, but most of them stayed quiet. 

“So, did you guys like me on the morning announcements?” Topher asked. “I think I was a great host.”

“Nobody cares about the announcements and their shitty editing, Topher. Being on your high school’s morning announcements won’t make you the next Ellen Degeneres.”

“But Duncan, I care!” Ella exclaimed.

“Do you now?” Heather asked sarcastically. Topher looked hopeful.

“Oh, honestly… not really.” Topher sighed.

“Well, the only one here getting famous is Sugar!” Sugar said, jabbing a thumb towards herself.

“Aren’t you a bit too old for Toddlers and Tiaras?” Heather remarked. The cast laughed as Sugar crossed her arms.

“Okay guys, let’s keep the tension down now, alright?” Courtney said, hiding her grin badly. She checked the time and swore.

“Alright, guys, practice ends in five. Practices will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday, see you tomorrow!” Courtney announced. Everyone began talking to each other as they packed up for the day. 

Sammy smiled for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Everyone in theatre seemed so nice. Last year was good, but hopefully, this year would be better and she’d make even more friends.

The tutorial bell rang. Everyone started filing out of the room. Sammy threw her pencil case and notebook into her white kanken. Sammy let out a content sigh as she exited the theatre room. She plugged her headphones into her iPhone 8 (a hand-me-down from when Amy insisted on getting the XS) and shuffled her playlist. 

Sammy grabbed her red longboard from the rack outside and began riding on it. She pushed off the board, flying down the sidewalk as the breeze skid against her skin, cooling her from the light, sunshiny weather. The clouds spilled over the sky as she rode her board home.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

“So, that was fun,” Gwen smiled as she leaned on her girlfriend’s shoulder with a sigh. Courtney rolled her eyes and playfully pushed the goth.

“You’re so dumb.”

“Love you too.” The theatre kids shared a kiss before returning to their previous snuggling position.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The play is voted on and revealed. The conflict between the cast sharpens, and a certain someone joins Drama Club...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you all so much! I didn’t expect to get any readers/reviews/comments. I know 5 reviews isn’t exactly a lot by most people’s standards, but it is for me haha.
> 
> Also, I do post these to AO3 and FanFiction . net, just letting you all know. So, nobody is stealing anything.

Sammy opened the door to her house. It was a small, blue house with white trim and a neatly cared for lawn. It looked nearly identical to every other house on the block. She carried her longboard under her arm and walked in.

“Where the fuck was you?” Amy snarled, squinting at her twin. Sammy sighed.

“Play rehearsal? Like, last year?

“Yeah, okay, but I had to carry all my items from the bus stop to the house. By myself,” Amy complained. “Do you know how long of a walk that is?”

“Um, half a block?” 

“Exactly! Which is why you are going to wash my white vans and get out every single speck of dirt. Got it?”

“Uh, yeah, okay,” Sammy said, taking Amy’s shoes and heading upstairs. She was used to Amy’s demands, so it’s not like they had much of an effect on her anymore.

Sammy headed into her room. It was pretty small, but it was Sammy’s sanctuary. The walls were painted a light blue, covered in posters, drawings, and a few Polaroid photos. She set her kanken on her small, white daybed, next to her pile of stuffed animals. 

Sammy sat at her desk and pulled out a weathered, blue composition notebook, hidden under her mattress. She smiled and clicked her half-dead black pen.

“Dear Diary,” Sammy mumbled, beginning to write in her swirly, scribbly handwriting on a fresh page.

Today was actually pretty good. I expected it to be terrible. Well, it almost was, but theatre was actually great, honestly.

Amy is still a bitch. I’ve pretty much accepted my fate, but the pain never stops. Having friends has really helped me, at least. I mean, my friend group is still tiny, but it’s existent, right? And theatre has really helped me break out of my shell.

I’ll check back in tomorrow then?

Sammy shut her diary shut and hid it under her mattress, then got to work on Amy’s shoes, scrubbing off the dirt with a sigh as she daydreamed wistfully about the next play rehearsal.

/\/\/\/\/\/

Gwen yawned as she threw herself out of bed and headed into her bathroom. She finished a quick, cold shower before blow-drying her hair and drying off. She threw on a pair of faded mom jeans, a bulky belt, and a black camisole over a white t-shirt. She slipped on her combat boots and brushed her hair. 

This month, she had chosen to dye her short bob a muppet blue color. Her roots were just starting to come in slightly, and her baby bangs were getting a bit too long. Gwen shrugged it off and finished off her look by darkening her eyebrows, coating her lashes with five layers of mascara, and matching her lipstick with her hair.

Gwen clipped on her choker, grabbed her cracked iPhone 7, and tossed on her simple, canvas backpack covered in patches and writing and stickers. 

She got into her dented, old black Subaru and headed to Wawanakwa High. As soon as she entered the building, the bell signifying you to get to first period sounded. Gwen rolled her eyes and sat in her usual desk by the window for AP History.

A freckled blonde walked into the room afterward. She turned to Gwen and smiled, walking into the classroom before bumping into a desk. A few people laughed, including the goth girl. The blonde blushed and rolled her eyes before taking her seat next to Gwen.

“Hey, Bridgette.”

“Oh, hey. How was your whole theatre thing?” Bridgette asked. “I can imagine it wouldn’t be easy, considering Courtney’s the stage manager.” Gwen shook her head. 

“Nah, we’re both over the whole ‘Duncan incident’,” Gwen said before changing the subject to avoid exposing her paramour. “Man, school’s already been such a pain in the ass.”

Bridgette let out a short giggle. “Gwen, it’s only the second day.” Gwen sighed and pulled out her history notebook.

“Yeah, I know, but still. I don’t really like any of the teachers, except for Art and English.”

“I get that. What about Ms. Wover?” Bridgette asked. Gwen snorted.

“She’s so fu-”

“Ms. Weekes, I suggest you refrain from finishing that sentence,” Ms. Wover said sternly as she walked into the classroom, the tardy bell ringing as she did. Gwen rolled her eyes and faced the front of the classroom. Bridgette smiled and began paying attention to the lesson. 

Gwen busied herself by doodling skulls in the corner of her notebook, ignoring the World War II notes she was supposed to be taking.

/\/\/\/\/\

Heather strutted down the hallway, Lindsay following close behind her. Heather carried herself with elegant, business-like poise. Her dark, raven hair was tied up into a perfect bun, locks of hair framing her angled, Asian features. She wore a burgundy wrap shirt that certainly broke the dress code, high-waisted shorts, and some sandals.

Lindsay walked behind her, carrying two backpacks on her as she did. She was dressed nicely, but not in the same way as Heather. Her bleached hair was pulled back by a blue headband, matching her eyes. She simply wore a red, high-waisted skirt, a black crop top, and long, black boots. 

“Lindsay, do you have the late passes?” Heather asked. 

“Right here!” Lindsay smiled as she pulled out the passes they had gotten Harold to copy for them. Heather’s nude-lipsticked mouth set into a smile. She snatched the passes from the bottle blonde.

“Thank you.”

Lindsay frowned as Heather opened the door to the English classroom. The two girls strutted in, fashionably late. Heather dropped the late passes on the ground as she did, leaving Ms. Burgess to pick them up. Lindsay dropped Heather’s bag on her desk and took her seat behind Heather. 

“Welcome to class, ladies. You’re lucky you have a late pass.” Heather rolled her eyes. Ms. Burgess narrowed her eyes and continued to teach. Heather smirked. She was practically worshipped at Wawanakwa High. Everyone hated her, but nobody could touch her. There were a few contenders for her spot, but they weren’t anywhere close to overtaking her.

Amanda Kress, or Amy, was one of those contenders. She was only a sophomore, but she already established herself. She would constantly go out with seniors and juniors on the football team and was head cheerleader as a sophomore, an honor typically reserved for only seniors, but who could resist her daddy’s fat wallet?

There was also Courtney, stage manager, student council president, and senior. Her looks boosted her popularity up as well. She used to date Duncan, but something happened and she stopped going out with guys. There were rumors about her being gay, though.

“Note to self: Look into that,” Heather thought, imagining a scheme to overthrow some of her competition. She smiled maliciously at the thought. 

“Heather, am I left or right-handed?” Lindsay whispered from behind her. Heather rolled her eyes. Lindsay was rich and attractive, but she sure as hell didn’t have a brain, leaving her out of the popularity race.

“Right,” she muttered back. Lindsay smiled and began filling out Heather’s notes for her. 

/\/\/\/\/\

Sammy left her last period with a smile. 

“Finally, time for play rehearsal!” She squealed happily. Sammy took a deep breath to compose herself and began walking to the theatre room. She tied her blonde hair up into a messy ponytail as she did, humming to a Billie Eilish song.

As she turned the corner, she noticed a very familiar face standing outside of the theatre room.

Amy.

Sammy’s eye twitched as she looked at her identical twin, who made eye contact with her and smirked. Sammy rolled her eyes. 

“So, are there any open positions on the theatre club thingy?” Amy asked the stage manager, batting her eyelashes. Courtney pursed her lips. She opened her mouth to reply before getting cut off by Amy.

“‘Cause, if there isn’t, we can kick off my lame little sis,” Amy suggested. Courtney shook her head.

“Why would I kick off Sammy? She’s a good member of the drama club, and she’s really nice, too.” Sammy smiled at this. Amy frowned.

“Oh, is she now?” She shrilled in her condescending tone. “Well, I can be nice, too.”

“Uh, t-” Amy shushed Courtney.

“Wait! Before you say anything, remember, I have a lot of social standing. Wait, aren’t you gay? I could get someone to fuck you.” Courtney pinkened at that. Sammy raised an eyebrow.

“Um, no, I’m n-not, and-” Amy snapped her fingers.

“Do you want money? ‘Cause I could hook you up.” Courtney smiled at this. Sammy frowned. Dad’s wallet was her flash pass through life. 

“Yes, actually…I’d like to get some stage lights, and a good venue, and-” 

“Done!” Amy smiled, pulling out a few bills. Courtney took them from her reluctantly.

“If you need more, just ask!” Amy said. She smirked at Sammy and strutted into the theatre room. Sammy sighed. Courtney noticed her and walked over to the good twin.

“Hey, I know you guys don’t have the best relationship and all.” Sammy snorted. 

“Understatement of the century.” Courtney laughed a little.

“Honestly, she seems like- well, there’s no other way to put this, a bitch,” Courtney said, matter-of-factly. Sammy smiled at this.

“But, she does have a lot of money. Look, I’ll try to keep things under control.” The CIT paused. “This is probably wrong morally, but we’re-we’re struggling. Could you take one for the team?” Sammy paused before shaking her head yes.

“Hey, if it makes you feel better, you have seniority over her. And you’re helping me with casting.”

“Thanks, Courtney, you’re...actually pretty nice.”

“No problem.”

With that, the duo walked into the theatre room. Most of the members were already there, sitting in the same seats they were yesterday. Amy sat with Heather and Duncan, the more popular people in the club, thus the ones Amy gravitated towards. Both looked like they wanted to shoot themselves.

Sammy took her seat across from Gwen, pulling out her notebook and waiting for Courtney to begin. 

“Hey, looks like everyone is here,” Courtney smiled. “So, first off, we’re going to be doing script readings. We’ll start with Cinderella, I guess.” She began passing out scripts to the cast members.

“So, who wants to be Cindere-” 

“I will!” Amy interrupted. Courtney squinted.

“Please respectfully raise your hand if you would like to read for the part of Cinderella.” Ella, Heather, and Amy raised their hands. The stage manager smiled.

“Hmm, I choose...Ella.” Ella smiled.

“Thank you, Courtney!” Amy rolled her eyes.

“Try hard.” Sammy sighed. Amy was already making her safe place toxic.

Courtney continued casting roles. Sammy silently celebrated when Amy ended up as one of the evil stepsisters. The cast members read through their lines, highlighting them and studying to get a feel of their characters.

“So, we’re just gonna start by reading through a few scenes, then we’ll move onto the next musical. We may sing some parts of some songs, just to see how you guys are vocal-wise.”

“Ella and I will be your vocal coaches, too, FYI.” Amy glared at the singer. 

They began reading through a few lines. A lot of the cast was lackluster. They stumbled over their words and showed no emotion. Courtney twitched slightly. Things weren’t looking good for the show. 

The crew was also busy. They read through the script, discussing the budget and how they would be able to pull off certain scenes. Sammy watched the cast perform, praying Amy would screw something up.

But, she didn’t mess up besides a few word stumbles. Sammy’s eyes narrowed. Of course, Amy managed to ruin something decent in her life. Sammy sighed again and continued reading along to the script.

The cast moved onto singing a few lines from the songs to gage their singing capacities. Ella started out first.

“He was tall, very tall, and his eyes were clear and blue…” Everyone in the room watched as Ella sang, her voice flowing through the room. Amy rolled her eyes as everyone listened in awe. Amy snatched the script from her. 

“Hey, what the fuck, Amy?” Courtney asked, trying to give the script back to Ella. Amy raised it up in the air.

“Oh my god,” Sammy muttered. Shawn and Gwen looked at her worriedly. Amy stood up onto the desk.

“I’m going to sing…” She flipped through Ella’s highlighted script. “Stepsister’s Lament!”

“Why would a fellow want a girl like her?” Amy sung, in the incorrect key. Sammy rolled her eyes.

“A frail and fluffy beauty!” Lindsay looked away in horror. 

“Why can’t a fellow ever once pre-”

“Ooookay!” Courtney shouted out. Everyone else sighed in relief.

“I think we should move on to Heathers, then.” Heather smiled before hiding her excitement. Heathers had always been a guilty pleasure of hers. The dark comedy had always been one of her favorites. Ironically, she was now just as popular as the original Chandler.

“Hopefully I don’t die by the end,” Heather thought.

Courtney casted the temporary roles. Heather ended up as Chandler, just as she hoped to. Amy ended up being Duke, Ella as Mac, and…

“Sugar? As Veronica?” Scarlett asked.

“Well, I’d like to give everyone an...equal chance, I guess.”

“Damn straight,” Sugar said. 

“Okay, let’s start by singing ‘Beautiful’, I guess.”

“September 1st, 1989,” Sugar began, squinting at the paper and speaking in her thick, country accent.

“Dear Diary…” Sugar began singing through the first verse. She could barely carry a tune and her country accent and low reading level meant she stumbled a lot.

“Freak! Slut! Burn-out! Bug-eyes! Poser! Lard-ass!” The ensemble sang half-heartedly. They continued working through the verses. The crew looked at each other, unsure of how this was playing out.

“College will be paradise, if I’m not dead by Juunnne!” Sugar screeched out. Everyone covered their ears in pain. This time, Beardo took the lead for Courtney.

“Um, how about the Heathers sing some of Candy Store so we can hear them sing for once?” Courtney mouthed a ‘Thank you’ to Beardo. Heather, Ella, and Amy flipped through their script and read through the song before Heather started them off.

“Are we gonna have a problem?”

“You got a bone to pick?”

“You’ve come so far, why now are you pulling on my dick?” The Heathers began singing the first few verses. Courtney took scribbly notes as she went.

“Honey, what’chu waiting fo-” Amy starting belting.

“Shut up, Heather!” Heather said, shoving Amy off the table. Sammy smirked at this.

“Ow, hey, is that even allowe-”

“Step into my candy store!” Heather sang, holding the note for a decent length. She wasn’t a bad singer. Some work could be done, but she was pretty solid.

“Okay, let’s end it off here. Take five, get water, talk to each other, whatever. We’ll take a vote after that.” Courtney dismissed.

“Hey, why did you push me? That shouldn’t be allowed,” Amy whined. Heather chuckled.

“Well, it literally says I have to in the script.”

“Bullshit.” Amy flipped through the script. 

“‘Chandler shoves Duke to the ground.’” Topher read aloud. Heather smirked.

“Yeah, well, I’m going to be cast as Veronica anyways. Doesn’t she kill Heather?” Amy fired back. Heather scoffed.

“As if you’re gonna get a lead, anyway. Sugar is a better vocalist than you.” Amy rolled her eyes.

“Um, we don’t even know if we’re going to be doing Heathers,” Ella mentioned. “I hope we do Cinderella instead. Heathers doesn’t seem, well, appropriate for a high school play.”

“Shut up, Ella!” Amy and Heather said at once. Ella frowned. Courtney came over to the group.

“Hey, Ella has a point. We’re going to have to do the PG-13 version of the play anyway. Plus, we could still end up doing Cinderella.” 

“Fine,” Amy rolled her eyes and continued reading her script.

/\/\/\/\

“Things are looking pretty rough for the cast, huh?” Zoey commented as she looked over at them. Gwen smirked.

“Yeah, no shit.” Sammy sighed as she watched her sister.

“Izzy wants to punch Amy!” Izzy commented, spinning in the desk chair. Eva stopped her chair, causing Izzy to fly off of the chair and hit the other desk.

“You and me both, Izzy,” Sammy smiled. 

“Yeah, your sister is kind of a bitch, no offense,” Gwen commented. 

“Oh, it’s fine, I don’t really like her either.” Eva gave a rare chuckle.

“Well, I think I’d rather do Heathers now, what about you guys?” Shawn asked, taking a sip from his water bottle.

“Agreed, I’d rather see some bombs go off as opposed to whatever the fuck happens in Cinderella,” Scarlett noted. A few crew members were a bit surprised at this, considering most of them figured she was just a quiet nerd.

“What?” Scarlett asked, observing their stares. “Am I wrong?” A few of them simply shook their heads and went back to reading through the scripts.

“Plus, I’d say it would be easier to replicate a school setting rather than a whole ass ballroom.” 

“Yeah, that’s true,” Shawn conceded. Courtney clapped to get their attention.

“Now, we are going to take a vote. If you would like to do Cinderella, raise your hand.”

Ella, Lindsay, Tyler, Topher, and Sugar raised their hands. Beth and Zoey did the same after looking around the room for a bit.

“Put your hands down. If you would like us to do Heathers, raise your hand.”

Gwen raised her hand first. Shawn, Izzy, Eva, Sammy, Scarlett, and Heather followed suit. Amy and Duncan hesitated before raising a hand. Courtney smiled.

“Well, it’s decided then. We will be doing Heathers.”

Ella sighed, knowing her dreams of playing Cinderella were crushed. Heather pumped a fist silently. Others just talked amongst themselves. Some cast members flipped through the script, seeing which parts they could play.

“Oh, please turn in your audition/enrollment forms to me. You can keep your scripts. Cast members, pick a song from the character you want to play and familiarize yourself with it. Auditions will be Friday. You guys can go now.”

Sammy smiled. Things seemed to be looking up. 

Amy walked over to her and put her hand on Sammy’s shoulder.

“Oh, heeyyy, Sis. How would you like to carry me home? That’s all you’re really good for, an-”

“Actually, Amy, Sammy is going to be hanging out with me and Court after school,” Gwen interrupted, glaring at the evil twin. Sammy blushed at this. 

“Yeah, okay. Nobody would, like, actually want to hang out with my lame little sister,” Amy rolled her eyes. Sammy slumped a bit at this. 

“Look, if you’re going to have a negative impact on drama club, I’m going to have to kick you off,” Courtney mentioned. Amy looked behind her. Courtney stood, towering over her, arms folded.

“Okay, god, but you’re not getting away with this, Samey.”

“That’s not her name.”

“Fine, Samantha,” Amy scoffed, walking out of the theatre room.

“Hey, um, thanks for that,” Sammy said bashfully before grabbing her kanken and beginning to walk out of the classroom.

“Where are you going?” Gwen asked.

“Uh, home?”

“I wasn’t kidding, you know. You’re coming with us.” Sammy gave a weak smile.

“Oh, you don’t have to-”

“You’re coming with us,” Gwen decided. Sammy reluctantly followed the goth and the stage manager, unsure of where she was going.

/\/\/\/\

Amy narrowed her eyes as she began her walk home from school.

“Gwen and Courtney have got to go,” she seethed under her breath.

/\/\/\/\

Heather and Lindsay strutted through the mall, Lindsay holding all of Heather’s bags as Heather ranted.

“And then, Amy was all like ‘I’m gonna be Veronica!” But I said-”

“Can I vent next, Heather?” Heather hesitated. One part of Amy’s image that ruined her credibility was her treatment of that Sammy girl. While Sammy was a total nobody, she just looked needlessly cruel when she ordered her around.

“Sure, Lindsay. And, let me take a few of those bags.” Lindsay smiled a golden smile.

“So, I was like-” Heather tuned her out as she thought about her plans to stabilize her popularity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was chapter two, I guess!
> 
> Next Chapter-July 26th


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We take a break from Drama Club and see what Wawanakwa High is like.

“How do you let your sister treat you that way?” Courtney asked, drumming her nails on the window of Gwen’s beat-up car. Sammy sighed from the back seat.

“She’s...basically been like this for as long as I’ve known,” Sammy said, twiddling her thumbs. “Well, it doesn’t help that Dad favors her.”

“Wow,” Gwen commented, eyes set on the road. “That’s pretty fucked up, sorry about that.” Sammy gave a bittersweet smile.

“She’s convinced most that I’m the ‘lesser twin’, or whatever. I mean, I always got better grades than her, and she always hated when I was “better” than her at something.” 

Courtney turned to face the blonde. Sammy pinkened. 

“Hey, I know I don’t really know exactly what this feels like,” she began. “But I can...still relate, to a certain degree. My siblings are all very successful, and there’s kind of a lot of pressure.” Courtney smiled. Sammy returned the gesture.

“Thanks, Courtney.” The car ride stayed silent for another minute.

“So, where are we going, anyway?” The blonde asked.

“Oh, the mall, figured we could hang out at the cafe and look around or something,” Gwen responded.

“Okay.” Courtney plugged the aux cord into Gwen’s phone, shuffling her playlist. A Paramore song played as they continued the quiet ride. Sammy listened, her gaze fixated on her white converse shoes.

Soon, they pulled up to Wawanakwa Mall. The three girls got out and went to the cafe.

“Hey, Courtney, Gwen,” the barista at the counter greeted. Gwen greeted her with ironic finger guns. The blonde laughed slightly. The cafe was empty at this point, as no one ordered coffee at four o’ clock.

“Hello, Bridgette, this is Sammy,” Courtney introduced. Sammy gave a tentative smile, feeling her anxiety build. 

“Yeah, me, Courtney, and Bridgette work here,” Gwen explained. The goth hopped over the counter and casually began making a Green Tea Frappe. 

“You’re free to apply if you want, Sammy,” Courtney said, sitting at one of the small tables in the cafe. The end of Sammy’s mouth upturned at this. Gwen finished her frappe, pouring one out for Sammy, as well. 

“I didn’t know you and Courtney were friends, Gwen,” Bridgette said, adjusting her green apron. Courtney and Bridgette continued to talk about other things, the goth chiming in occasionally as the platinum blonde stayed quiet.

Sammy studied Courtney and Gwen’s body language. Something seemed...off about those two. For one, it seemed strange that two polar opposites were getting on so well. While not unheard of, it was still strange. She watched as Gwen’s pale hand danced near Courtney’s hand. Bridgette noticed Sammy’s gaze and made a “can you believe these two” look. 

Sammy chuckled a bit. She still didn’t really understand Gwen and Courtney’s strange friendship, but she was enjoying her time, surprisingly. She took another sip of her frappe and listened to them talk.

Eventually, more customers began coming in, and Bridgette had to get back to her shift. Gwen, Courtney, and Sammy left Wawanakwa Cafe, beginning to walk through the mall.

/\/\/\/\

Another familiar pair strutted down the mall. The dark-haired Asian seemed to be thinking about something, ignoring her blonde friend, who was babbling about something that didn’t concern her.

“So, then, I was like, ‘Fin, your hair is so damaged from ocean water, you need to wear hair masks’ and then she was like ‘I can’t afford those!’. So, I sent her a DIY hair mask recipe and her hair looks so pretty now!”

“That’s great, Lindsay.”

“Thanks, Hannah! And also, I put that Judy skater guy’s hair into a ponytail, and then this like, really cute vegan girl found it hot and they’re dating now!”

“That’s amazing, Lindsay.”

“Oh, and then, I saw Courtney with that goth girl last week. I don’t remember what they were doing, but she made me promise not to tell anyone, so I totally kept it a secret!”

“That’s cool, Li-wait, Courtney Flores and Gwen Weekes?” Heather asked in a hushed voice. Lindsay nodded happily. The Queen Bee pulled the blonde onto a nearby bench.

“Tell me everything you remember about what you saw, Linds!” She commanded in a fake, friendly tone. She beamed.

“Oh, okay, Hannah. So,” Lindsay began.

_I was in History, and it was really boring, so I decided to go to the bathroom, touch up my makeup, and take some totally cute insta pics! I entered the C-Hall bathroom, and I heard some whispers. They were like “be quiet, there’s someone in here!” so I was like “who’s in there?”. I looked under the bathroom stall, and there were some Vans and some combat boots in the same stall, and the boots were like, surprisingly cute, very emo, but they would still be nice if they were paired with, I dunno-_

**Can we hurry the story along, Lindsay?**

_Oh, right! So, the other voice said, “Oh, it’s just Lindsay, calm down,” and I definitely recognized that voice. It was Greta, she tutored me in English last year! “Greta?” I asked, and the other voice was like, “let’s just tell her, she’ll probably forget anyway” and then Greta and Courtney left the stall. They were both, like, very crumpled looking, Greta’s makeup was smudged, and Courtney looked red in the face. Like they were secretly with boys!_

_But then I remembered, “Oh, right, girls can do that too!” Courtney was like, “Lindsay, please don’t tell anyone about this, we’ll give you free drinks from Wawanakwa Cafe” so I said “no problem, Courtney!”_

_Then, we all quietly fixed our makeup and stuff. I went potty, and Greta and Courtney left the bathroom. I didn’t know Courtney and Greta were lesbians, but they’re so cute! I don’t know why they want to keep it a secret or whatever, but yeah!_

Lindsay smiled and began playing with her blond hair after she finished the story, tying it up with a blue scrunchie.

Heather smirked. “Wow, Lindsay, that was like, a really cool story!”

“Thanks, Hannah! Speaking of which, that girl looks exactly like Greta,” she mentioned, pointing at the goth girl, who was walking into Hot Topic, followed by Courtney and a blonde that looked exactly like one of Heather’s enemies.

“That-that is Gret- I mean, Gwen,” Heather said.

“Lindsay, go follow them and record their conversation,” Heather asked. The bottle blonde beamed and picked up her coral iPhone and walked into the shop. The dark-haired girl smirked deviously as she watched her ‘friend’ perform her dirty work.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Lindsay watched the trio from a few meters away. She didn’t really understand why Heather was so interested in Courtney, Greta, and that Sam girl, but she didn’t want Heather to get mad at her again, so she did as she said anyway.

“Oh, the stuff here is actually kinda cool!” Sammy commented, looking at some cute plushies. Courtney looked around the shop.

“Eh, I’m not much of an emo or goth person, but I respect it for what it is,” Courtney said.

“Are you sure about that?” Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow at Courtney, who smiled and rolled her eyes. Sammy watched them curiously before deciding to just jump the gun and ask.

“So, um, are you guys, like, uh, well, you know-” 

“Gay?” Gwen finished, raising an eyebrow. Sammy blushed.

“Well, um, yeah, that’s what I kinda, like, meant.” Courtney laughed.

“It’s not that big of a deal, Sammy. Well, we’ve kinda been keeping it a secret, at least for now, so only some of our friends know,” she explained. Sammy smiled slightly.

“Well, that’s cool, I won’t tell anyone or anything. I just didn’t know, really.” The trio went back to browsing the store. Lindsay sighed in relief as she saved the video and left the store. Heather was still on the bench, furiously typing something out on her phone.

“Did you get anything incriminating?” Heather asked in a hushed tone. Lindsay nodded happily and gave Heather her phone. Heather watched the video before smiling maliciously and sending it to herself. 

“Thank you, Lindsay. You know, you’re not as stupid as everyone makes you out to be.”

“Thanks?”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

After Gwen, Courtney, and Sammy finished shopping and talking, they dropped her off at her house. Sammy got out of Gwen’s car, kanken on her back and longboard under her arm.

“Hey, guys, thanks for today. I really needed this.”

“No problem.”

Sammy smiled and walked into her house. Amy was on the couch, sipping cola and watching an episode of her favorite teen drama. She noticed her sister and scowled.

“I know you think you’re so cool for hanging out with seniors, but mark my words, you will regret this,” she seethed. Sammy frowned.

“Yeah, okay, Amanda,” she fired back, walking up the stairs tiredly as her sister grumbled and turned her attention to the TV. She took another sip before her phone rang, causing her to jump and spill her drink. Amy rolled her eyes before checking the caller ID. Heather.

“Uh, hello?” Amy greeted. Why would Heather of all people be calling her?

“I know how to take down Gwen, Courtney, and your little sister,” Heather said simply. Amy’s eyes widened.

“Tell me more.”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The rest of the day went alright for Sammy. Surprisingly, Amy didn’t even tattle on her for going out without permission. She seemed to be hiding something, though, as she was pretty quiet for most of dinner. Sammy couldn’t shake the feeling that Amy was hiding something from her.

She couldn’t really do much about it, obviously, so Sammy just let it rest and did her and Amy’s chores autonomously without Amy even forcing her to. Afterward, she played some games on her laptop before going to sleep, hoping the next day would be just as good as today.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Sammy woke up, at a decent time. After showering and changing into black leggings and a longsleeved crop top, she was ready for school. Amy always got picked up by some friend or boyfriend in some sort of fancy car, so she was already gone. Sammy simply longboarded to school, getting there at a decent time. First period was going to start soon, so she decided to stop off at her locker beforehand.

When she got there, there was a tall, dark-skinned girl next to her own locker, struggling to get hers open. Sammy had never seen her before. Her hair was tied up into a messy ponytail and she wore a black shirt tucked into a pair of dark green pants, along with boots. 

“Hey, d-do you need any help?” Sammy asked, walking up to the girl. She looked up in surprise.

“Yeah, that would be great, actually. I’m Jasmine,” she said, smiling at Sammy. She had a strong, Australian accent.

“Sammy. Are you new?” Jasmine blushed.

“Is it that obvious?” 

“Well, kinda,” Sammy laughed. Jasmine gave a sheepish smile in return.

Sammy read the locker combo on the back of her lock and easily opened her locker.

“Here you go, might wanna scratch your combo off. People will steal your stuff.” Jasmine giggled.

“Ah, thanks, mate. I swear this locker ‘ere is a pain in the arse.”

“Yeah, it does that. The principle sure as hell won’t replace them. Hey, what grade are you in? I’m guessing, senior?” Sammy asked, judging by her height. She easily towered a head and a half above Sammy. Jasmine chuckled.

“Oh, no, just a sophomore. What about you?” 

“Sophomore as well. What’s your first period?” Jasmine pulled out her class sheet and squinted at it.

“Erm, science, with Mr. Garcia.” Sammy smiled.

“Hey, same!” The bell rang, and students began to spill into the hallway.

“Oh, can you take me there?” Jasmine asked, picking up her backpack. Sammy nodded, and the duo began walking to class. Many students looked oddly at them, doing a double take when they saw Jasmine, as she towered above almost everyone.

“So, any advice for school here in Canada?” Sammy pursed her lips as she thought.

“Well, one easy one is to avoid them,” Sammy said simply, glancing over to Amy and her crew, babbling about things that likely didn’t matter. The group consisted of jocks and cheerleaders, your typical group of peak-too-sooners. Jasmine seemed taken aback.

“Blimey, blondie looks just like you!” She exclaimed as the pair silently studied from afar. Suddenly, Amy turned, making eye contact with Sammy and narrowing her eyes. She whispered to her friend, Whitney, loud enough for her twin and her friend to easily hear.

“Ew, can you believe my disgusting sister is staring at me? I swear, she has some kind of weird incest thing for me!” 

Sammy rolled her eyes and grabbed Jasmine’s hand. They continued walking together.

“Yeah, I can see why you don’t like your sister. She’s a total cunt!” Jasmine said loudly. Sammy’s eyes widened before she began giggling. Jasmine chuckled along.

“Whatever. Oh, there’s Mr. Garcia’s room.” The two walked up to the teacher, who was standing right outside of the classroom. He looked at Jasmine and gave a forced smile.

“You must be Jasmine. I’ve been waiting on the new student to arrive so I can finally implement the damn seating chart…” He said, muttering the last part. He then cleared his throat. “Okay, Sammy, you’ll be sitting diagonally from Shawn, and Jasmine, you’ll be at the seat closest to the window at table 5.” 

The duo walked in. The tables were rearranged to now sit in clusters opposed to rows. Sammy took her seat, exchanging a smile with Shawn. There were a few other people in the classroom. Shawn awkwardly shuffled in his seat before speaking.

“So, uh, theatre, amirite?” Sammy looked at him oddly before responding.

“Yeah, it’s fun, but it’s chaotic. You think Sugar’s gonna be cast as Veronica?” Sammy asked sarcastically. Shawn snickered.

“Yeah, and Mr. Garcia’s wife didn’t divorce his ass,” Shawn quipped back as she giggled and started working on her warm-up. A few more people were entering the room, complaining about their seats and talking to each other.

“So, who’s the new girl? She’s pretty, pretty tall, that is,” Shawn asked, correcting his sentence at the end. Sammy smiled.

“Oh, that’s Jasmine. She’s from Australia. She’s really cool, I think you guys would like, get along.”

“Is that so?” Shawn pondered as he watched her from afar. A few other kids sat down at their table: Sky and Les. 

Sky was pretty granola, at least to Sammy. She was a gymnast and in like, every other sport, but wasn’t bitchy and didn’t care about popularity. Les was okay, but Sammy was pretty sure he vaped during class. Soon, the bell rang.

Class was pretty boring, as always. Occasionally, Jasmine would glance back at Sammy, and they’d exchange a smile or a chuckle. Jasmine had gotten her fair share of questions from people, as a new student. Shawn sometimes tried to catch eye contact with her with little success.

Class ended relatively soon. Sammy threw her items into her bag and met up with Jasmine to talk.

“Hey, so that was your first class here at Wawanakwa. How does it feel?” Sammy asked. Jasmine rolled her eyes.

“Boring. Next period is English for me.” Sammy frowned.

“Aw, man, I have history. Oh well, those two are in the same hallway.” The two began walking down to C-Hall. Sammy could have sworn she saw Shawn trying to find a way to jump in out of the corner of her eye, but she shrugged it off.

“So, Sam,” Jasmine started. “Wait, is it okay if I call ya’ Sam?” Sammy nodded happily.

“Okay, so can I get your number or something so we can hang out or something?” Jasmine asked, pulling out her schedule and a pen. Sammy took it and scrawled her number down.

“No problem! Oh, we’re already at History. We don’t have any classes together ‘till Calc, but maybe we can sit at the same lunch table?”

“That would be great, Sam. See ya’!” Sammy waved back as she walked to History, happy she had made another friend. Things were looking up.

Hopefully it stayed that way.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Lunch came fairly quickly for Scarlett.

Of course, time goes by at the same pace each day, but the imbeciles and insufferable teachers made it seem as if time was slowing rapidly, as if that was possible.

It didn’t help that she had a ‘shadow’, so to speak.

“Anyway, Scarlett, I was like, ‘no way, RCMP guy!’ then the big black guy was like ‘oh, yes you are, young lady’ and so I-” Scarlett pinched her nose as she listened to Izzy drone on about her likely fictional adventures.

“Why the fuck are you still following me?” Scarlett asked, cutting off Izzy’s story. Izzy glared and picked up her spork.

“Oh, Izzy does not like being interrupted. I may be small, but I can murder you in a thousand different ways with this!” She threatened, slamming it prongs down into another boy’s arm. He yelped in pain and glared at Izzy.

“Hey, what the hell?” 

“Oh, I’m sorry Noah-Boa! I’ll make it up to you, Izzy-style!” 

“Please do not.”

“Oh,” Izzy said, looking down before perking up again.

“So anyway, the RCMP is still after me, but there’s still one piece of pie left, so I-”

“Izzy! Why are you following me and toting around your incessant troupe of outcasts along with you?” The other students glared at Scarlett, who rolled her eyes.

“Oh, we’re Team E-scope!” She explained, putting a hand on each of the two main members, Eva and Noah, who shared a disgruntled look. “Oh, and Zekey and Owen hang with us too! Hi Zekey!” Izzy exclaimed, waving to Ezekiel, who sat a mere two seats away. He responded with a thumbs up before returning to eating his salad.

“Why me? I literally have little to no correlation with any of you dumbasses.”

“Drama club!” Izzy mentioned, taking one of Scarlett’s chips.

“Ugh, whatever.”

“By the way, what’s your number? We gotta add you to the group chat now,” Eva asked. Scarlett rolled her eyes as she listed off the digits and Eva punched them in.

“And we’re also going to the park tomorrow, as usual, so you should probably come,” Noah added.

“We’re the cool kids! We go to parks, shoplift, do weed, it’s so fun!”

“Jesus Christ,” Scarlett muttered as she ate another chip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that’s it for chapter 3. A bit shorter than the last, but I enjoyed writing it for the most part. I usually strive for around 3000 words per chapter anyway. No drama club today, I wanted to set up some c o n f l i c t as well as build the world a bit and establish friendships and whatnot. This fic has kinda been The Sammy Fanfiction so far.
> 
> Sorry, Jasmine’s dialogue may not be the best, but I’ve been trying to read up on it and stuff to make it less awkward.
> 
> Next Chapter- August 2nd


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> auditions part one baby!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for almost being late lmao. Thank you all so much for the kudos <3

Amy pursed her lips as she entered the empty classroom, shutting the door behind her quietly as she did before taking a seat on one of the desks. The classroom seemed oddly cursed without any teachers or anything to ruin it.

“Why the fuck are we meeting in this weird-ass classroom? This better be as good as you said it was,” Amy asked, glaring at Heather, watching her swipe through her phone. Her long, burgundy nails filled the room with small, angry clicks as she searched through her phone.

“I told you, I have a plan to throw off Courtney, Gwen, and your dorky little sister,” Heather reminded Amy. It’s not like she really hated Sammy, but insulting her was a surefire way to gain Amy’s approval. 

“Oh. Well, chop chop, I don’t have all day.” Heather rolled her eyes as she pulled up the video.

“You know the rumor about Courtney and Gwen being secret lesbians?” Amy nodded, soaking up the possibilities running through her head.

“It’s true,” Heather clarified as she hopped off the desk, ready to show the evil twin her plans.

“Called it! Those dykes are so weird. Like, who even-”

“Anyway,” Heather interrupted, much to Amy’s annoyance. “I have the perfect way to expose them, to knock Courtney and that stick up her ass down, to get her gothy girlfriend to shut up, and by association, to get Sammy-”

“It’s Samey.” Heather rolled her eyes. She always found the ‘Samey’ nickname to be retarded. It wasn’t even a clever insult, middle school level at best.

“To get Samey to fall even more, socially. The key? This video.” Heather extended her crimson iPhone to Amy and hit the play button.

The filming was shaky and unsteady, filmed from between a clothing rack. Gwen, Courtney, and Sammy were standing and talking. Eventually, it got to the part of the video where they made their confession. The audio was a bit muffled, but you could clearly hear it all. Amy smirked, laughing maliciously as they admitted their relationship.

“This is like, so gonna break them. Send that to me, right now!” Heather smirked.

“And let you take all the credit? Nice try, bitch. We’ll talk about this later.” Heather strutted out the door, carrying a business-like poise as she did. Amy’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m gonna find a way to get that damn video,” Amy mumbled as she followed Heather out the door.

Heather smirked as she listened to Amy mutter to herself. 

Hook, line, and sinker.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Sammy casually walked down the hall. Last period was finally over, and she could go to Drama Club.

“Hey, Sammy, wait up.” The blonde turned her head to see Shawn running up to her. He caught up to her soon and began walking beside her.

“Oh, hey, Shawn,” Sammy greeted. Shawn adjusted his beanie before giving her a half-smile.

“Well, I just figured that since we’re both going to theatre, we might as well walk together,” Shawn explained, tucking his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. Sammy smiled.

“Well, okay then. You ready for auditions?”

“It’s not like I’m auditioning or anything,” he said, kicking a crumpled piece of paper on the floor. Sammy chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Sammy pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. “So, what’s up with you and Jasmine?” Shawn flinched, stopping his movement. Sammy stopped walking as well.

“Oh, um, nothing, really, I-” 

“Are you sure?” Sammy asked, looking Shawn in his brown eyes. Shawn met her teal eyes before diverting them.

“Look, I don’t really know for sure, I don’t even, like, really know her know her, you know?” Sammy turned her head.

“Uh, I guess I, like, know,” Sammy chuckled, poking fun at Shawn’s word choices. He laughed again and the pair continued walking down the hallway, entering the theatre room and taking their seats.

“Well, good talk, I suppose,” Shawn commented, leaning back in his chair. There was a decent amount of people in the room already.

“Hey, Jasmine and I were actually planning on going to Wawanakwa Mall or something tomorrow, you can come if you’d like,” Sammy asked the brown-haired boy. He perked up slightly.

“Wow, this town sucks at naming shit. Yeah, I’ll come- it seems pretty fortified from the undead. Just text me.” Sammy seemed a bit confused by his undead talk, but it didn’t really matter. She already had his number, since she had to bring his homework one time.

The conversation died off after that. Soon, every other theatre club member was there. Izzy and Eva were the last to get there, the former sitting on the latter’s shoulders. Nobody really paid them a second glance. On the cast side of the room, Amy was scanning the room, watching Gwen and Courtney casually talking. Heather elbowed her.

“Don’t make it so obvious, dumbass,” she hissed into Amy’s ear. Amy rolled her eyes.

“Why don’t we just hurry up and expose the video? It would be so easy to ruin them, we have all the resources,” Amy scoffed, throwing her hair behind her shoulder and hitting Duncan.

“Watch it, Sammy,” he warned, carving a piece of wood in his hands. Amy gasped.

“I’m Amy! How could you mix me with my loser sister?” Duncan shrugged.

“Fuck off, you two literally look the exact same, the other one just isn’t a bitch, I think.” Amy rolled her eyes, going back to talking to Heather.

“To answer your retarded question, it’s not the right time. Trust me,” Heather explained, crossing her arms.

“Ugh! Whatever.” Courtney ended her conversation with her secret lover and stood up, clapping to get the attention of the drama club.

“Alright, today we are having our auditions for Heathers the Musical! Anyone auditioning, come up to me!” Everyone on the cast side walked up to Courtney, along with Zoey.

“Oh, you’re auditioning, Zoey?” Sammy asked. She nodded.

“Yeah, it sounds fun, and I like playing the uke and singing, so why not?”

“Okay, when I say your name, tell me which part you’re auditioning for.” Courtney listened to the cast, scribbling down everyone’s names on a sheet of paper and snapping it to a clipboard.

“I’m giving our actors five minutes to read through their lines before we start the audition process. You may use your script, but bonus points if you don’t. We’re starting with the spoken monologues, just letting you guys know,” Courtney announced, walking over to the crew.

“You all don’t really have a lot to do, except those helping with auditions. Everyone else can read through the script, watch the actors perform, just try to make yourself useful, ‘kay?” Everyone else nodded. Sammy and Shawn grabbed chairs and sat in front of the stage.

“So, who are you most excited to see fuck up? For me, Amy,” Sammy asked, shifting anxiously in her chair. Shawn shrugged.

“Eh, probably Sugar, since she’s, you know-” 

“Sugar,” Sammy giggled, finishing his sentence. 

The actors were reading through their scripts, some helping each other. Surprisingly, Lindsay was helping Beth with her lines.

“Oh, you’re like, so pretty, Beth! Try to project your voice more, you’re totes amazing at singing!” Beth blushed.

“Aw, thanks! I’m hoping they cast me as McNamara.” Lindsay beamed as she continued listening to Beth’s singing.

Others, like Duncan, could care less about auditions.

“‘Seems every time I’m about to despair, there’s a 7-11 right there’? The fuck is this song about?” He lamented, flipping through the audition scripts the stage manager had passed out at the last drama practice.

“Again, why are you here?” Tyler asked again, taking a break from watching Lindsay and practicing his lines as Kurt.

“I told you, I needed to join a club because McLame wanted me to have a positive influence or some shit, and this is the least lame one,” Duncan said, rolling his eyes as he drew a penis on someone’s backpack.

“Hey, what are you doing with my backpack!” Tyler cried out. Duncan sighed and quickly made extra marks on it.

“Relax, man, it’s a smiley face.” Duncan tossed Tyler his red backpack, who glared at the punk upon seeing the new addition.

Amy and Heather were still debating whether to expose the video or not, working under the guise of rehearsing lines. 

“I told you, if we expose it now, it won’t be the optimal time. It’s going to flop,” Heather retorted as she read through Chandler’s monologue. Amy narrowed her eyes.

“And I said that if we wait, it’s just going to come out anyway and we won’t get any of the credit!”

“Listen, bitch, I know you think you’re high and mighty because you throw a few shitty insults at your sister, but you’re really not. Just because you have money and you aren’t half bad looking doesn’t mean you get everything.” Heather crossed her arms. Working with Amy was relentless. She was going to have to warp her plans if she was going to continue acting like this.

“I can’t believe you just said that! You know, you say you hate that Alejandro guy, but I bet-”

“This is rich coming from the girl who dates a new guy every week. Puh-lease, I bet you haven’t even gone past first base.”

“Well, I-”

“Everyone, auditions are starting! We can listen to Amy and Heather talk shit afterward,” Courtney called out. Gwen and Beardo soon joined Shawn and Sammy at the stage. Courtney sat in the middle in a desk chair.

“So, that was great,” Shawn commented, propping his feet up on the stage. Sammy let out a sigh, blowing a chunk of hair from her eyes.

“Eeyup.”

“So, first up auditioning is Ella, for the role of ‘Veronica Sawyer’,” Courtney said as Ella walked onto the stage. She took a deep breath before beginning.

“My parents wanted to move me into high school out of the sixth grade, but we decided to chuck the idea because I’d have trouble making friends, blah blah blah,” Ella spoke, holding a script but mostly keeping her eyes off of it, making light hand motions as she spoke.

Courtney already began to take notes. ‘Too happy for Veronica, a bit too soft-spoken, but good memorization and inflection overall’ she scrawled out, her pen movements loud enough for those around her to hear. Sammy, feeling intimidated, wrote down ‘feels pretty confident’. Shawn and Gwen’s papers lay blank as Beardo wrote a word or two.

“Now, blah blah blah is all I ever do!” Ella exclaimed, throwing up her arms. “I use my grand IQ to decide what color of gloss I should wear in the morning and-” Ella paused to read the script again.

“How to hit...three keggers before, um, curfew,” Ella said, feeling slightly uncomfortable with what she had to say. More scribbling. Heather rolled her eyes as she watched.

“It’s a dark comedy, the fuck did Cinderella expect?” Heather thought, reading her own lines again.

“Betty Finn was a true friend and I sold her out for a bunch of swatch-dogs and diet cokeheads.” Eva and Izzy watched from the desk, bored as hell. Lindsay and Beth were silently making a secret handshake together. Amy merely stared at Heather, reading her actions and seeing if there was a way to take her phone.

“Killing Heather-” Heather perked up upon hearing her name and continued listening half-heartedly to Ella’s monologue. “-would be like offing the Wicked Witch of the west.”

“Wait, east. West! God, I sound like a f-” Ella stopped again. “Do I really have to say the, you know, f-word?” She asked, dropping her voice at the end as if she had said some sort of horrific slur.

“Uh, no, if it doesn’t make you feel comfortable,” Beardo answered for the stage manager. 

“Okay, then I’m done. Thank you all for listening!” She beamed, taking a bow. Courtney clapped awkwardly, looking around the room and expecting people to join in. Of course, nobody did, except Lindsay, who was trying to be a good sport, and Izzy, who feverishly clapped for an uncomfortably long time. Courtney cleared her throat.

“Um, very good, Ella. Next up is Topher, as Jason Dean.” 

Most people tuned out the next few auditions. Katie, who did a very stilted reading as Heather Duke. Sadie, who did the same thing but slightly better. Tyler, who didn’t do half bad as Kurt, even if he tripped twice during the performance. 

“Next up is Amy, auditioning for Veronica Sawyer.”

Amy walked onto the stage, clicking her white cheerleader boots loudly as she did. Heather watched with mild interest as Amy took her spot, holding her script and clearing her throat.

“My parents wanted to move ME into high school from the sixth grade, but we decided to chuck the idea because I’d have trouble making friends, blah blah blah!” Amy spoke, enunciating her words too much and constantly reading from the script. Heather held back a laugh as she continued her reading of the next few line, as Amy clearly knew nothing about acting.

Sammy merely wrote, ‘do not fucking cast her, no matter what’ on her paper, while Courtney basically did the same in a more professional format. Shawn still had a blank paper, while Gwen’s was filled with doodles. Nobody in the audience really listened to her, either. They had grown tired of doing that a while ago.

“Killing HEATHER-” Amy said, nearly shouting the second word and directing her attention to Heather. “-would be like offing the Wicked Witch of the East. No, Eas-wait, shit.”

Amy took a moment to reread the line before starting again.

“East. No, west. God, I sound like a fucking psychopath!” She seethed, stomping her foot dramatically at the end before smiling sweetly at the stage manager.

“Thank you all!” She blew kisses toward the audience, dramatically bowing before exiting the stage. Heather rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t win a goddamn Tony, Amy, who do you think you’re fooling?” Duncan shouted from the sidelines. Amy walked over, kicking him where the sun doesn’t shine and going to sit near Heather with a smirk.

“Well, Duncan, let’s see how well you do as-” Beardo stopped to read Courtney’s list. “-Jason Dean!” Duncan rolled his eyes, hopping onto the stage lazily.

“Can't believe you did it. I was teasing. I loved you.” Gwen and Courtney both flinched at this line, as they had heard it too many times by him, even if this was just an audition he was putting no effort into.

Which, was pretty similar to his relationships with both girls.

“Sure, I was coming up here to kill you... First I was gonna try and get you back with my amazing petition. It's a shame you can't see what our fellow students really signed. Listen,” Duncan spoke directly from the script, stumbling through his words in a neutral, unchanged voice the entire time.

"’We, students at Westerburg High, will die. Today. Our burning bodies will be the ultimate protest to a society that degrades us. Fuck you all!’" Duncan followed the last line with a middle finger to the audience, specifically to Courtney, who rolled her eyes and scrawled another note down.

“It's not very subtle, but neither is blowing up a whole school, now is it?” Duncan jumped off the stage, going back to his position against the wall and opening a pack of cigarettes, preparing to smoke one.

“Hey, maybe don’t smoke inside, especially right beside an air vent,” Shawn warned the punk. Duncan rolled his eyes and put the cancer stick back, pulling out a cracked iPhone and messing around with it.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Izzy giggled maniacally to herself out of nowhere, causing Scarlett to snap her pencil. She glared at her fellow redhead.

“I’m bored!” Izzy whispered loudly to Eva and Scarlett.

“What do you suggest we do, then?” Scarlett asked, rolling her eyes.

“I dunno, mess around in the storage basement?” Izzy suggested, pointing at the door that read ‘storage basement’. The trio shrugged and opened the door quietly.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

A few more people went up to audition, most of them unmemorable and bad. It wasn’t long before it was Heather’s turn to audition.

“Heather, auditioning for Chandler,” Sammy announced for Courtney, who looked exhausted at this point. Heather drew her lipsticked mouth into a smirk, strutting onstage. Her script was left on the table.

“Like I give a shit. They all want me as a friend or a fuck,” Heather scoffed, swaying her hand as if she was above the entire school.

Not like it was far from the truth.

“I’m worshipped at Westerburg, and I’m only a Junior.” Heather carried herself with a bitchy poise not unlike what she’d normally have as she spoke, giving the role some personality unlike the others who had auditioned. She turned her eyes to an invisible target.

“I can’t believe this. We’re going to a party at Remington University tonight, and we’re brushing up on our conversational skills with the scum of the school.” Heather strutted off the stage, winking at Amy as she did.

“You still think you’re hot shit, do you now?” Amy rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t even think of a retort to counter Heather. The role of Chandler had her name on it.

Literally.

“Okay, never thought I’d say this, but great work, Heather. Umm,” Courtney paused to look at her binder. “Next up is-oh god.” Her face paled as she read the next name. Gwen was the first to react.

“What is it, Court’?”

“Um, next up is...Sugar.” Shawn and Sammy shared a smirk as the country queen ran onstage, carrying her script.

“Good evening, y’all! I am Sugar, the perfect pageant star herself, who, might I add, was the cow in-” She began before Courtney cut her off.

“Look, Sugar, I’m-” She swallowed her words for a second. “-sorry about this, but we’re kind of on a tight schedule, could you maybe cut the intro?” Sugar rolled her eyes.

“Fine, dream killer. Anywho, I’m auditioning for that there Valerie Swarmer chick, got it!?” She asked, jabbing a finger at the audience. Sammy stifled a chuckle before Sugar cleared her throat loudly, punching her chest twice.

“Mah parents wanted to move me into high schoo’ straight out’a the 6th grade, but we tossed the idea-” 

“Um, sorry, but we’re running out of time, Sugar. Don’t worry, we got a lot of your-” Courtney coughed a bit. “-superb acting from that line alone.” Sugar glared at Courtney and stormed off stage.

“I’m not going to read the rest because I don’t wanna, not because you said so!” Sugar added, crossing her arms.

“Okay then, next up is Beth, for McNamara,” Shawn lazily called out. Sammy watched his movements instead of Beth. He was surprisingly pretty cool, they had never really talked before, even though they had a few classes together last year and were part of drama club as a freshman. 

Something about merely being around Shawn was making Sammy feel…happier. More confident and comforting, even. She shook it off and paid attention to Beth instead. 

Beth pantomimed digging through a locker for a few seconds before saying her line. Lindsay was holding Beth’s script, following along with her acting.

“Look...Heather left behind one of her swatches,” Beth said, holding up an invisible item. “She’d want you to have it, Veronica.” She tossed the invisible object at an invisible Veronica. 

“She always did say you couldn’t accessorize for shit.” Beth shook her head. “What a waste.” 

“Veronica...Veronica, what are you doing?” Beth asked before smiling at Courtney and walking offstage. They had given up on clapping five auditions ago.

Zoey went last, giving a decent, scriptless reading for Veronica. Courtney gave a fatigued smile.

“Okay, now we’re going to move on to the singing portion. We will be singing Big Fun all the way through because I don’t feel like listening to Beautiful again. Okay, for Veronica-” Courtney looked at the crew who was helping her cast. 

“I dunno, Ella was pretty good,” Shawn suggested, looking at his blank notes as a reference. Courtney nodded.

“Okay, Ella is Veronica, um, Heather, you can be Chandler.” Heather smirked. She knew she had this role. 

“Amy, you can be McNamara, and Zoey will be Duke.” Amy scoffed, she wanted a larger role than the weakling Heather. Zoey was happy enough with her role.

Courtney finished casting the auditionees. They looked satisfied enough with their roles. Topher looked ecstatic to be Jason Dean. Tyler, who was Kurt, tried to high five Duncan, who was cast as Ram, who merely blew him off.

“I can’t believe I was cast for Martha! Just because we have a similar appearance doesn’t mean I should be Martha. I did way better than Amy, but just because she’s thin and pretty she got the better role!” Beth complained to Lindsay, who frowned.

“Beth, you’re really pretty, no matter your body type! Plus, your personality is like, way better than Amy. And Martha seems like a nice role,” Lindsay comforted, patting Beth’s shoulder.

“Hey, thanks! And this is just my first play, anyway. Martha is still cool,” she nodded and began highlighting her lines.

“You made a mistake, Courtney! Why am I ‘new wave girl’? I don’t wanna be some nobody,” Sugar complained, waving her script in Courtney’s face.

“Well, um, these aren’t definite! You’ll get your, um, official casting later!” Courtney said, sweating nervously. Sugar glared, backing off but not completely.

“I better be one of them Heathers,” she grumbled, sitting down on a desk and reading the lyrics for Big Fun.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Look at all this cool stuff, Scarly!” Izzy exclaimed, swinging from a treadmill. 

Eva looked around. There were some props and random scrap pieces scattered around a room. Racks of clothing sat around the room, full of things from bear suits to dresses.

“Interesting…” Scarlett said, lifting up a broken smoke machine at eye level.

“Also, don’t call me Scarly,” she muttered, setting down the machine and searching through the clothing. All of a sudden, Izzy burst from the clothing rack, adorned in one of the bear suits.

“Rawr!” She screamed, muffled through the bear costume. Scarlett jumped.

“Izzy! Wait, how did you put that suit on so fast?” She questioned. Izzy laughed and took off the head.

“Magic!” She waved her hands, squirming out of the costume, grinning from ear-to-ear as Scarlett pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I’m sure that’s what that is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So auditions were longer than I thought it would be, so I split up this chapter so the length of the chapters would stay consistent. Some of this got repetitive, so I added in Izzy, Eva, and Scarlett’s shenanigans.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cast of Heathers the Musical gets decided, Jasmine, Shawn, and Sammy hang out, and Scarlett does pot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, here’s the plot of Heathers the musical, in case one of my two (2) active readers didn’t know.
> 
> Basically, this girl, Veronica, becomes apart of the Heathers, a group of popular girls all named Heather, ditching her friend Martha for them. She meets a guy, Jason Dean, and start dating. He turns out to be a bad influence and convinces her to...murder some of her peers. Yeah, haha.

“So, that was-”

“Kind of a fucking disaster?” Shawn quipped, lounging lazily on one of the tables.

“I was _going_ to say interesting, but you actually summarized it quite well,” Courtney admitted, tying her hair up into a bun.  
The cast and most of the crew were gone at this point, leaving only those who were helping with auditions. Everyone was splayed across the room, either on a table or at a desk or on top of a filing cabinet, in Beardo’s case.

“Alright, I guess we’ll start by casting the leads,” Courtney began, pulling out her binder and flipping to a page. “First, Veronica Sawyer.”  
  
“I nominate Sugar!” Beardo announced, running a hand through his afro. Courtney rolled her eyes.

“She’s lucky I’m not throwing her ass out of Drama Club altogether,” she muttered.

“I don’t know, Court’, her singing _was_ really great…” Gwen commented before chuckling lightly at her own joke.

“Okay, seriously though, I’d say Ella and Zoey were pretty good,” Sammy offered, messing with the end of her shirt. 

“Yeah, Zoey has a good voice,” Gwen said, scrolling through her phone.

“Okay, well, raise your hand if you think Zoey should be Veronica.” Gwen, Sammy, and Shawn raised their hands, followed by Courtney raising her own. “Then, it’s settled.”

“Uh, Ella didn’t seem comfortable swearing, but she was really good, so maybe she could be Mac.” Everyone else nodded.

They continued casting. Beth as Martha. Tyler as Kurt. They were fairly straightforward.

“Oh, hey, there’s a role called ‘Republican Girl’. Perfect for Sugar!” Gwen called out. Courtney smirked and marked her down immediately.

“Who should be Duke?” Courtney asked. “We have Katie, Sadie, and Amy.” Sammy sighed.

“As much as I hate to say it, I think we’re going to have to get Amy to play Duke.”  
  
“Katie and Sadie probably can’t carry a role that large,” Gwen mused. Courtney frowned and wrote down Amy’s name.

“Next up, Jason Dean. Topher or, um, Duncan.”

“I have to say, Duncan has a better voice and general look for Jason Dean,” Beardo commented, hopping from the filing cabinet.

“Yeah, but Topher put in more _effort_ .”  
  
“True, but he still didn’t have as good of a voice as Duncan did.”  
  
“Well, there’s also the fact that Duncan doesn’t care about this.”  
  
“It could still help him, I dunno, provide a good influence on him.” Courtney frowned.

“I mean, I guess, but-”

“Courtney.” Gwen set a hand on her shoulder. “He has a point. Let it go.” Courtney pursed her lips, begrudgingly writing Duncan’s name down for JD and Topher for Ram. Katie and Sadie were given random ensemble roles.

“We don’t have enough members, so some of the crew will have to fill roles. I can be Ms. Fleming…”  
  
Sammy tuned out Courtney’s ramblings and looked down at her phone. She went through her Instagram feed. She liked a few posts- some of which were from the drama club- Izzy posing with a confused Eva and a bored brunet boy, Heather posing like a model in front of a maple tree, and Gwen’s messy watercolor portraits.

She checked her notifications. She didn’t expect much, since her account- not.samey- sat at a mere 150 followers. 

_flowersandfighting has requested to follow you._

Sammy raised an eyebrow. She rarely recieved follow requests. She clicked on their profile, reading the bio.

_Jasmine, Australian, Sophomore. No, I don’t have a pet koala._

Sammy tried to suppress it, but she couldn’t help it. A dumb grin spread across her face as she shakily accepted the request and followed her back.

“Audition results have you that happy, huh?” Shawn commented from behind Sammy, resting an arm on her shoulder. The good twin yelped, dropping her phone in surprise as she looked up at her...friend? Acquaintance? She didn’t know where to place Shawn.

“Oh, n-no, Jasmine just-Jasmine just followed me. On, Instagram.” Shawn blinked.

“Uh, cool,” he immediately dropped his arm from her shoulder, slightly dropping his posture at the mention of Jasmine. “You know, Courtney kind of just said we could go home now.” Sammy flushed red.

“I-I knew that!” She stuttered, packing up her things. Shawn laughed a bit.

“You need a ride?” He offered, running a hand through his brown hair. Sammy hesitated before shaking her head. 

“It’s alright.” Shawn nodded, walking out as Sammy sighed wistfully.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Of all the things Scarlett thought would happen as a result of joining drama club, getting stoned with upperclassmen she barely knew was not one of them.

“Told you Izzy gets the good stuff!” Izzy exclaimed as she took a hit, passing it on to Noah, who went for a long puff before giving it to Scarlett. She examined it for a second before bringing it to her mouth, exhaling the smoke before coughing slightly. She offered it to Ezekiel, who passed it to Eva without taking a hit.

“Where did you buy this?” Scarlett asked, revitalized by the marijuana. Ezekiel cleared his throat.

“I-um, I grow it. At home,” he explained, tugging on the strings of his hoodie.

“Yeah, that’s basically why we keep him around,” Noah explained, leaning back on his chair and taking a chaste sip of his cola. Scarlett studied his body language for a moment before adjusting her glasses slightly. Izzy glared at the brunet.

“ _I_ like Zekey!” She hopped over to Ezekiel, rubbing his head affectionately, though the hoodie-clad boy looked more uncomfortable than happy. Noah narrowed his eyes.

“Right. Farmer boy is just _lucky_ he has a green thumb.” Ezekiel gulped. Noah rolled his eyes, turning to the newcomer of the group.

“What about you?” Noah asked. “Why does Izzy want you to join us? You look like a fucking librarian.” Scarlett folded her arms.

  
“That’s not who I am.” Noah cocked an eyebrow.

“Care to explain?”  
  
“I have my reasonings,” Scarlett said off-handedly, taking the last hit of the joint before dropping the end of it in Noah’s cola.  
  
“Real mature,” Noah deadpanned before downing the rest of the soda, looking Scarlett dead in the eyes as he did. Eva grunted.

“Got any more, _Zeke_?” The bodybuilder asked, her face free of emotion.

“O-of what?” Eva stared at the boy for a solid five seconds, the farmer shaking as he avoided her eye contact.

“Pot.” He paled.

“I’m sorry! There’s more-there’s more at m-my house,” Ezekiel stuttered. 

“It’s okay, Zekey! We’ll go to your house, then!”  
  
“Well, we might as well stop off at the 7-11. I need a new soda,” Noah said, not breaking his eye contact with Scarlett as he stretched. 

“Whatever,” Scarlett muttered as she followed Izzy out of the stuffy basement.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Morning came all too early for Heather. 

Getting ready was easy enough. Heather could show up to school in a potato sack and still be worshipped.

She sighed as she tied her hair back in a perfectly messy bun, tossing on her burgundy backpack as she sauntered out of her house.

“You look marvelous today, as always, mi amor,” Alejandro greeted the Asian, opening the car door as she rolled her eyes and got into the passenger seat.  
  
“Yeah, whatever,” Heather scoffed, adjusting her grey top and crossing her legs as she scrolled through her phone. Alejandro rolled his eyes and merely paid attention to the road.

Alejandro loved Heather. That was a given. Yes, she was absolutely gorgeous. But there was also the passion in her eyes. That perfectly devious smirk Alejandro could never keep up with. The softness preserved solely for him, and only him. 

But he couldn’t help but feel as if something was missing.

“Can we stop off at Starbucks or something?” Heather asked, bringing her eyes off of her phone’s screen and snapping the South American out of his thoughts. “I’m exhausted, it’s way too early.” Alejandro squinted.

“Might I bring up that _you_ were the one who texted _me_ last night to pick you up an hour earlier?”  
  
“I- whatever! Just, go through the drive-through. I’ll even pay,” she replied, pulling out a couple of bills. Alejandro smirked, knowing he had won.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you want me to drive you this early anyway?” Alejandro asked, pulling into the Starbucks line. Heather rolled her eyes.

“It’s for-it’s for that theatre thing I’m doing.” Alejandro burst out laughing. She blushed. “What?!”  
  
“Nothing, it’s just- you were rambling about how you were ‘only signing up to spy on Courtney’ and now you’re waking up early for theatre?” His laughter died to a chuckle as Heather crossed her arms. 

“God, that’s so un-Heather-like.”  
  
“Fuck you.”  
  
“I love you too.”

“Oh.”  
  
Alejandro frowned at her response before sighing and ordering Heather’s usual drink. The unnerving silence of the car ride lingered until they got to school.  
  
“Well, here we are. Let’s go see your theatre thing.” Alejandro took the car out of the ignition and got out, opening the door for Heather afterward.

“I can open it by myself, you know.”

“Your beauty shouldn’t be wasted on opening car doors.” Heather wrinkled her nose.

“Okay, now you’re just being patronizing.” Heather began walking toward the school, converse scraping across the pavement. Alejandro sped-walk to catch up with her, taking her hand in his.

“You know that’s not what I meant.” Heather looked down, flushing red at the small, romantic gesture.

“I-it doesn’t matter,” Heather muttered, pecking his cheek. Alejandro smiled. He knew her like the back of his hand.

The power couple strutted through the school. A few students were already there, most surprised by their presence- they were the kind of couple to show up fashionably late.

“When are you going to go through with ‘the plan’?” Alejandro asked, keeping his voice soft as they walked, running his right hand through his hair.

“Later, it’s not the right time. She still isn’t fully ready or whatever,” Heather responded, pursing her lips slightly.

“I see. Anyway, what musical are you doing?”  
  
“Heathers.”  
  
“That one 80s movie you’ve made me watch with you, like, ten times now?” He teased, squeezing her hand playfully. Heather flushed red again before releasing her hand, leaving Alejandro to awkwardly clutch a limp hand.

“S-Shut up! Look, the results are up.” A few students were already there- Amy, with a gaggle of sophomore girls, Beth, who was with Lindsay, and finally, Topher, who was with another sandy-haired boy.

  
“Excuse me,” Heather spoke, her voice commanding and stern as she glared down at them. The sophomore girls quickly backed off, Topher and his friend stepping aside politely.  
  
“Hi, Hannah! I’m here with Beth, she got Martha!” Heather gave a half-smile.

“Hey, Lindsay. Can I see the results?” Lindsay beamed, walking off with Beth, who shot Heather an annoyed glance before turning to face the bottle blonde.

“What’s her deal…” Heather mumbled before turning to the only one still blocking the list.

“That means you too, Amy.” Amy looked up, crossing her arms.

“Whatever. The people casting were so retarded. I didn’t even get Veronica!” Heather rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, okay. Just move, so I can-”

  
“Yet another reason why we should release that fucking video already. I mean, Courtney is such a-”

  
“I told you, no. Now fuck off so I can see that I’ve been cast as Chandler.” Amy scoffed.

“How presumptuous of you to just assume you’ll get such a prominent role,” she spat, mispronouncing ‘presumptuous’. Heather shoved Amy aside. She scanned the list, smirking when she read her name.

“Oh, look. It says my name right there.” Amy rolled her eyes.

“Fuck off. You’re lucky you have that stupid video, otherwise, I’d drop you so fast.” Amy stomped off with her crew of sophomores, leaving Heather to revel in her small victory as she closed her hand around Alejandro’s again.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

  
Sammy was not having a good day.

Her perception on what made a day good or not was very skewed- her twin sister ignored her temporarily? Fantastic day. She got a stain on her favorite pair of jeans and Amy called her out on it in the middle of the hallway? Well, that was a decent day. 

She woke up late, panicked, put on an inside-out sweater, tied her greasy, messy hair in a bun, got ridiculed by her sister on her appearance, sprinted to school, had to walk into Science late in her messy state, got stared at, tried to freshen up in the bathroom but ended up just being late to second period as well, braved the stares of her peers, tried to ignore her twin’s demands, and became so mortified she spent her lunch in the handicapped bathroom stall?

Shitty day.

Sammy sighed as she splashed water on her face, looking at her reflection in the mirror of the bathroom. She still looked terrible. Bags under her eyes, a wrinkled but right side out sweater, and the pimples scattered across her forehead.

The door to the bathroom flew open, causing Sammy to jump. She looked at the girl who had shoved it open.  
  
Her brownish-black hair was tied back in a pretty yet effortless looking bun, pulling off Sammy’s attempt infinitely better than she ever could. She wore a simple outfit- a grey top, and blue jeans, yet still looked leagues above Sammy.

Heather.

The Asian girl narrowed her eyes at Sammy before softening her expression somewhat. Sammy stiffened. Of all the things that could have made this day worse, the most popular girl in school had to walk in and see the good twin in her most pathetic state.

“Oh, it’s just you,” Heather muttered. “Geez, you look like ass.”  
  
“Wow, um, thanks,” Sammy responded awkwardly. Heather rolled her eyes, beginning her strut to the other mirror. Did she always have to walk with such poise?

“Could you n-not, like, oh, you know, could you-” Heather swiveled to Sammy, looking her in the eye as the platinum blonde flinched.

“Could I what? Spit it out, loser.” Sammy gulped.

“Just-please, don’t mention this-this to my sister.” Heather rolled her eyes again.

“Whatever. You look so pathetic right now that it would just be a low blow to do that.” Sammy looked to her feet.

“Oh.”  
  
Heather thought for a second before digging through her bag and giving her a can of dry shampoo.

“This didn’t fucking happen.” Sammy hesitated before accepting the can, looking around to see if it was some kind of set-up. Why did _the Heather_ do something nice to someone like her. 

Sammy chose not to think about it as she left Heather to touch up her makeup in silence as the sophomore undid her hair, spraying it with the shampoo, lost in thought.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

“So, this is Wawanakwa Mall, huh? It’s _huge_!” Sammy gave a soft smile as she looked at the Australian.

“Yeah, I guess it is.”  
  
“Blimey, is that a giant lemon? How many stores are in here?” 

  
“I don’t even know.” The duo walked through the massive mall. Jasmine marveled at almost everything. It really made Sammy more aware of the differences between Australia and Canada. 

  
Eventually, they made it to the cafe, where Shawn was waiting.

“Is this place any good, Sam?” Jasmine asked, looking around. Wawanakwa Cafe was pretty average looking, with green accents and a stage in the corner for performances. A few employees were at the counter, doing homework as they waited for customers.

“I’d say so. I was actually thinking of applying here,” Sammy mentioned, tucking her hands in her jeans. Jasmine quirked an eyebrow.

“Hey, maybe I’ll get a job at the mall too.” Sammy nodded and carefully took a seat next to Shawn, Jasmine sitting in front of them.  
  
“You must be Shawn,” Jasmine greeted. 

“Yeah, and you’re Jasmine,” Shawn said. “Right?” He added the last word quickly, realizing it sounded weird to know her name so certainly. Luckily, Jasmine just laughed a bit.

“Yes sir. I don’t know about you all, but I could go for a snack. Want anything from the cafe?” Sammy shook her head, not wanting to inconvenience Jasmine by spending her money.

“Just a small, black coffee,” Shawn uttered, leaning back in his chair.

“Ooh, edgy,” Jasmine teased. Shawn smirked.

“Oh, you know. Coffee will keep away the _zombies_.” Jasmine looked a bit confused before laughing a bit, going up to the counter. Sammy smiled again at the exchange, happy her day was turning around.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

**You have five (5) new messages.**

_shawnofthedeaddd created a group_

_shawnofthedeaddd added not.samey and flowersandfighting_

**shawnofthedeaddd:** figured I’d just make a group chat or whatever,,

**flowersandfighting:** today was really fun thx for welcoming me to canada

**flowersandfighting:** it’s really fucking weird here tho

Sammy nearly choked when she saw message after message pop up on her phone. Getting texts, (and the feeling that someone actually wanted her around) was foreign to her. She was so used to seeing people post out of context screenshots of group chats she secretly wished she could be apart of on people’s stories.

“ _God, you really are pathetic. Freaking out over a group chat,”_ Sammy muttered as she looked down at her phone.

That afternoon was great, but it still felt so surreal to hang out with people. Sammy’s reputation meant she was mostly alone. Freshman year, she had theatre, but she knew they all had their own friendships and Sammy was just the lowly freshman in the back.  
  
Sammy shook off her thoughts as she looked back at the screen.

**shawnofthedeaddd:** lmao yeah people suck

**shawnofthedeaddd:** no offense but what is ur username supposed to be

**flowersandfighting:** its so dumb u dont care

**shawnofthedeaddd:** mine is a reference to a freaking zombie movie idc

**flowersandfighting:** i have to dream to open a flower shop/ cage fighting school!  
  
**shawnofthedeaddd:** that’/s whack man but like a good whack 

Sammy really didn’t want to jump in, so she put her phone on silent and sighed, pulling out her journal again.

_Yup, it’s me again. I’m just praying that Amy doesn’t find you. Anyway, today was bad. Until it wasn’t. I actually kind of have friends? I don’t know. I really like Jasmine and her accent and Shawn and his zombie thing._

_Unfortunately, Amy’s in theatre now too. Yeah. And she got cast as a lead. Whatever. For some reason, Heather was nice to you today. I don’t know what ulterior motive she probably has. I’d ask, but we both know I don’t have the balls._

_Whatever, I’ll get back to you later. Life is weird right now, but it’s getting better._

_  
_ _I think._

Sammy shut her notebook closed, letting out a puff of air as she pulled out her homework, hoping to distract her from her growing feelings.

It didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll be honest, I’m reeeaally not that proud of this chapter. It was a bit rushed and I feel like I packed it with too much filler. Oh well. This chapter really kinda focused on establishing character dynamics and building the world outside of play rehearsal. 
> 
> I kinda wanted to show more of Jasmine/Shawn/Sammy hanging out, but I don’t know, I wasn’t feeling like it was necessary. I may take them out as a ship altogether, if I’m being honest, and make it platonic with possible Jashawn. Whatever, food for thought, I guess?
> 
> (also my dumbass finally learned that clicking "rich text" would save so much time because before I was writing these in google docs and was confused as to why italics didn't transfer so I was coding in the html and subsequently missing a lot of bold/italics due to laziness. I will update previous chapters to include more italics and such oops)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some theatre shit idk man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for my absence! More notes on why I was gone and stuff will be at the end of this chapter.

The morning shift at Wawanakwa Cafe was always the worst.

The job itself was pretty lowkey most of the time. Usually, Courtney would talk to Bridgette and Gwen or do homework or listen to music. Customers were few and far between, probably due to the mediocre drinks and the B they got on their health inspection score. Either way, the pay was good for the amount of work she did.

But the mornings were rough. 

Customers flocking in, from college kids doing all-nighters to businessmen running late to work, all hungry for their dose of cheap caffeine. It was pathetic. 

  
Another customer ran in. He looked to fall into the ‘recently divorced man in his mid-forties’ category. Courtney took his order as efficiently and politely as she could.

“Bridge’, I need a medium iced coffee, extra whipped cream,” she commanded, scribbling the customer's name on a cup and handing it off to the surfer.

“You got it,  _ boss _ ,” she replied, shooting her a dorky salute. Courtney chuckled, thankful her shift was ending soon.

“So, how is your theatre project thing doing?” Bridgette asked above the drawl of the coffee maker. The brunette rolled her eyes playfully as she absentmindedly wiped down the counter.

“I mean, I’m in charge, but it’s not really a  _ project,  _ per se.” She sighed, adjusting her apron. “Although ninety percent of the people there fucking suck.” Bridgette giggled, calling out the name of the guy who ordered the iced coffee.

“Well, you just have to look out for that ten percent,” she said, cleaning up a few small spills. “Like your girlfriend.” Courtney groaned, tapping her nails on the now-clean counter.

“Jesus Christ,” Courtney muttered.

“It’s not  _ my  _ fault I walked in on you guys sucking fa-”   
  
“Oh my god, let it go.” Courtney let out a breathy laugh. “We’re all cleaned up, let’s go. Jeremy’s in the breakroom already anyway.” Bridgette nodded, taking off her apron and putting her blue hoodie on. The duo walked out of the cafe quietly.

“Hey, can I borrow your bio notes?” Bridgette asked, tucking her hands in the kangaroo pocket of her hoodie. “My grades are already slipping.”    
  
“Seriously? Whatever, they’re in my bag.” They both loaded into Bridgette’s white CR-V, Courtney pulling the notes out.

“I’m so fucking tired of high school already,” Bridgette groaned as she pulled out of the mall parking lot. “I can’t wait until we graduate, man.”   
  
“Same,” Courtney responded with a heavy sigh.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

“There is no other way to say this,” the stage manager cried out. “You all fucking  _ suck  _ at acting.”   
  
The first day of play rehearsal, and it was already proving to be a disaster. 

Sammy sat in the corner, taking notes on the lighting.  _ Maybe I should make it blue when Veronica has a significant speaking role and white for the ensemble _ . Sammy smiled happily at the idea, marking things down in her script.

She looked at the boy next to her. Shawn was sketching out the costume for Veronica- a baggy blue jean jacket, a black striped crop top, ripped jeans, and a bulky belt.

“That’s pretty good, actually,” Sammy complimented, causing Shawn to jump. She let out a short laugh. 

“Yeah, hopefully, we can find some cheap costume shit- I wanted to make the outfits 80s but not blazers and short skirts,” Shawn mentioned, resting his feet on the desk. “How much is in the budget for costumes, Scarlett?” He asked, calling across the room. The redhead shot him a disgruntled look before responding.

“Twenty dollars.”   
  
“Wonderful,” Shawn said with a sigh before standing up. “Can we go into the supply room, then? See what we have to work with?” Gwen tossed him the key without looking. Shawn caught it. 

“Alright, Lindsay, wanna come?” Shawn asked, twirling the keyring around his finger. She nodded brightly, holding her design for Heather McNamara. It was more fashionable than Shawn’s design, but it still matched the modern 80s vibe.   
  
“I’m coming as well,” Scarlett said, popping up next to Lindsay. Shawn raised an eyebrow before nodding.   
  
Shawn, Lindsay, Scarlett, and Sammy entered the closet. It was very musty and strange, from the bear costume in the middle of the room to the flickering light bulb. Scarlett immediately grabbed a smoke machine from the corner of the room, as if she knew exactly where everything was. She left as quickly as she entered.

“Thhhaaat was fuckin’ weird,” Sammy said, flipping through the clothes. Lindsay giggled as she tried on a feather boa and a fedora, taking a couple of flash photos. 

“Damn, this is surprisingly nice for a musty-ass closet,” Shawn noted, holding up a yellow windbreaker. Sammy nodded, picking out a few things she thought Shawn might need.

“It’s because whenever McLean “donates the lost and found items” they go to drama club because he’s too lazy to actually donate it,” Sammy commented offhandedly, scanning through racks of clothes.

“I love everything here, though!” Lindsay said, before letting out a gasp. “This looks, like, so familiar!” Lindsay held up a jacket with the words ‘Lindsay Northwest’ emblazoned boldly on the back. Shawn looked to Sammy, both stifling a laugh as they continued sorting mindlessly through the racks.

By the time the trio was done, Lindsay had on dozens of random accessories, from a Christmas ornament to 3d glasses with one lens popped out. Shawn had on a scarf and had a ton of random clothes piled in his arms. Sammy came out with a big Five Nights at Freddie’s shirt over her normal clothes and a pair of pants tucked under her arm.   
  
Courtney raised an eyebrow as she watched the trio emerge.

“I hope you had  _ fun  _ messing around. Did you at least find enough costume stuff?” Courtney asked, crossing her arms. Shawn flinched, a bit intimidated by the stage manager.

“Er-yeah, mostly. We just need the trenchcoat and some materials, and also some jeans and shit- the actors are gonna have to wear their own shoes,” Shawn explained, setting down the clothes on the table. Courtney sighed.

“Fine. You all can go on a trip to Goodwill or something next play rehearsal.” Courtney walked towards the cast, leaving the crew to continue their jobs. 

“Amy?” Courtney called out tentatively. Amy put a hand on her hip and turned to Courtney with a smirk.

“What do  _ you  _ want?” She sneered, clenching the script in her other hand. Courtney squinted.

“You need to work with me and Ella on your voice,” Courtney explained. “You already have, um, some good aspects, we just need to work on highlighting them.” Amy rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

“Fine!” Reluctantly, Amy followed her and Ella into the back room.

Heather watched with scornful eyes. So far, Amy was fucking with her plans too much for comfort. She opened her phone’s photos, opening the ‘proof’ folder with a smirk. If all went accordingly, she’d have her time.

For now, she let herself practice her lines quietly.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Are you okay?” The goth asked, noticing her hand tense. Courtney looked down.

“I don’t know, this project is just kind of...tiring me out, you know?” Gwen offered a reassuring smile. Courtney grinned back.

“Hey, um, thanks.”   
  
“Us gal pals have to stick together, don’t we?” Courtney rolled her eyes, moving her thumb across the back of Gwen’s pale palm absentmindedly.

“Right. The completely heterosexual hand-holding,” Courtney quipped back. Gwen looked up to her girlfriend with gentle eyes.

“You know, I really am tired of this.” Courtney’s hand tensed.   
  
“Of...us?”

“No! No, no, definitely not  _ this. _ ” She gestured to their interlocked hands. “I’m tired of-just, pretending, you know?” Gwen shifted slightly, leaning into Courtney.

“I’m tired of being “best friends” and your “study buddy”. I want- I want to be your girlfriend. Like,  _ publically _ . I want to hold hands and cuddle you and buy you one of those stupid monkey plushies that say “I’m bananas for you”- you know, because monkeys like bananas, and-” Courtney cut out her rambling by planting a gentle kiss on her indigo lips, holding the kiss for a blissful few seconds before pulling away, squeezing her pale hand afterward. Gwen gave an anxious smile, burrowing herself closer to the stage manager.

“Look, I know. We’ve talked about this before,” Courtney reassured, running a hand through Gwen’s blue locks. “Not now, okay? It’s not a good time.” Gwen shot her eyes down to the ground, releasing her hold on Courtney’s hand.

  
“When will it ever be?”   
  
  


…

**flowersandfighting:** so how was theatre??

**shawnofthedeaddd:** long story short, we watched shitty acting from ppl who think they r going somehwere lmaooo

**not.samey:** ^

**flowersandfighting:** sam! u nevr talk in this gc

**flowersandfighting:** also wtf shawn haha

**not.samey:** yeah haha idk whyy

Sammy looked down at the screen of her iPhone disdainfully. She just didn’t want to say something dumb and have her friends hate her, really. Another vibration. Another message. Another vibration. Another message. She fought the urge to turn off her phone and took a deep breath, tapping on the group chat.

**shawnofthedeaddd:** anyway how r u jasmine

**flowersandfighting:** okay, thinking abt getting a job

**not.samey:** same!

**shawnofthedeaddd:** i already work @ the bakery 

Sammy gave a slight smile as she looked at the sunglasses emoji Shawn added to the end of his message before typing out her response.

**not.samey:** damn ok im thinking of applying to wawanakwa cafe

**flowersandfighting:** i used to work at a pet shop,,, but then i accidentally dropped a fish tank lmao :’)

Sammy chuckled as she read the messages, smiling as she reluctantly set down her phone and set off to do her and Amy’s chores.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Shut up, Heather!” Zoey’s voice rang out as she stood on the stage. Amy held a script, looking over her lines before she said her own.

“You shut up!” Amy shrilled, causing Heather to wince from her spot next to Zoey. Amy let out an overexaggerated gasp. “I don’t have to shut up anymore!” Beardo lazily hit a button on the speaker, causing  _ Freeze Your Brain  _ to play.    
  
“Shit,” he muttered, messing around before playing the right song.

“Hey, that’s Heather’s scrunchie!” Ella said softly.

“Not anymore!” Amy called out. “Heather choked, bought the farm, she could not have it…” Amy sang, her eyes on her script as she attempted to belt scratchily.

Sammy groaned as she hit her head against the spotlight she was carrying. “How are we supposed to focus when we have to listen to  _ that  _ all the time?” She complained, twirling a piece of hair that escaped from her messy bun.

“Headphones,” Gwen replied, taking one of her earbuds out and looking up at Sammy. Paint was smeared all over her face as she worked on a locker set Scarlett had made. 

“I-I guess,” Sammy said with a sigh, flipping through her notes on the lighting. “It’s crazy how this is still much better than she originally was.”   
  
“Eh, I’m just hoping for something half-decent when they perform this shit,” Shawn added lazily as he hung up Heather Duke’s costume- black leggings and a cropped green sweater.

“You might want to lower your expectations,” Scarlett suggested. “It’s a high school play.”

“Well, I think the actors will do good!” Lindsay beamed.    
  
“It’s ‘do well’, Li-”   
  
“Are you and Courtney dating, Gwen?” Izzy asked, grinning as she messed with her cracked phone. Gwen coughed violently.

“Excuse me?”   
  
Sammy averted her eyes. Whatever this is, it probably wouldn’t end well. Shawn merely raised an eyebrow as he cut a white t-shirt.

“I’m-” Gwen cut herself off. “We’re just friends.” She responded quietly.

“Okkkaaayyy…” Izzy said, raising her eyebrows.

Lindsay and Shawn exchanged a confused look before returning back to their respective projects.    
  
Soon, the music faded, and Amy was done singing.

“Okay, make sure to practice your parts, everyone- the bell is gonna ring soon,” Courtney said to the cast. 

“You guys are doing well, too. How are we on the costumes, Shawn?” The stage manager asked.

“Almost done. We need to finish the ensemble, the trenchcoat, and some other fixes,” Shawn answered, hanging up the shirt he cut.

“The sets?”   
  
“Almost done with the lockers,” Gwen answered.    
  
“The slushie display is finished as well,” Scarlett added.

“Props?”    
  
Eva held up some lunch trays and a set of scrunchies.   
  
“Lighting?”   
  
“I carried it out and planned all the lighting- I just need to practice my cues.”   
  
Courtney smiled.

“Wonderful! You all can go home now.” Sammy nodded, cleaning up before grabbing her bag and exiting with Shawn.

“I can’t believe it’s already October,” Sammy broke the silence. Shawn nodded.

“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t even like Halloween that much.”   
  
“Same here. Jasmine fucking loves it though. Apparently, it’s not a thing in the down under.” Sammy kicked a random pencil under her feet. 

“Maybe we should go trick-or-treating?” Sammy laughed.

“Totally.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry about being dead: I very much lost motivation on this project and took a bit of a break until I felt like writing again. Even though this chapter is around a thousand words shorter than I wanted it to be, I’m still going to publish it. I’ll try to put out a chapter next Friday, but no promises.
> 
> School also started for me, so that’s a thing. Remember that I’m only thirteen. I’m not some sort of older, experienced writer: I’m doing this for fun and to practice writing :)
> 
> Also, thank you so fucking much for all the reviews, y’all don’t know how guilty reading those reviews and not updating made me feel :’)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> stress and autumn dorkiness

**flowersandfighting:** im so bored rn

**shawnofthedeaddd:** uM you should be working right now ma’am

**not.samey:** ^

“Beck! You should be restocking the tennis balls!” A loud voice rang out from the counter, glaring at Jasmine. “That’s a minute in the penalty box.” Jasmine sighed, trudging into the small box and starting the timer.

“Add another minute for not saying ‘yes, sir’!”   
  
“Yes, sir,” Jasmine said, holding back an eye roll. She looked around to make sure her boss wasn’t looking and fished out her phone again.

**flowersandfighting:** i hate coach halder hes such a cunt tbh

**flowersandfighting:** like he just sent me to the “”””penalty box””” because i was on my phone smh

**not.samey:** lol

**not.samey:** told u to get a job at w cafe

**shawnofthedeaddd:** or at least the bakery

**flowersandfighting:** yeahhhh at least I get paid more lmao

Jasmine sighed, shutting off her phone as the timer blared. She exited the penalty box and began to grab tennis balls from the backroom to restock.

/\/\/\/\/\

Scarlett peered at her creation in satisfaction. She preened a piece of red hair behind her ear as she adjusted one last piece. Perfect.

Scarlett didn’t really know what she’d be getting into when she joined her high school’s drama club.

She certainly wasn’t one for musicals: the singing was annoying and the plots were often contrived and easy to pick apart. Listening to her insufferable peers attempt to sing and act was ironically humorous at best and absolutely horrible at worst. Currently, she was drowning out the sounds of her classmates trying to sing ‘Big Fun’.

Building sets and fucking around with random shit was wonderful, though.

The costume vault was untapped potential: she could work in there for  _ years _ , it seemed that every day she found a new broken set piece or an interesting prop that had some sort of story behind it. It was so much more than Scarlett could have hoped for.

She also found something she didn’t know she lacked: company.

Scarlett had always walked alone. She kept her head down and stayed as invisible as possible. No one was worth her presence. Nobody was smart enough to hold a candle to the brainiac.

And that still held true.

But then there was  _ Izzy _ , a chaotic dumbass who she’d never pay a second look to otherwise.

There was something about her and her rag-tag group of friends, Team E-Scope as she called it, which kept Scarlett from pushing her away.

Running around town, doing drugs, and committing small crimes like sneaking into movie theatres and pirating music and stealing candy gave her some kind of sick thrill. Strangely, it was incredible.

“Scarly!” Izzy’s voice rang out. Scarlett rolled her eyes. That stupid nickname was one thing she wished she could change. “My fingers stuck!” She looked over to see Izzy had stuck her finger into the fake Slurpee machine.

“Goddamn it!” Scarlett sucked in a deep breath and yanked her finger out of the set-piece.

“Ow! My finger!” Izzy cried out in pain. “You yanked off my finger!” Scarlett looked to the spout of the Slurpee machine to see what looked to be a severed finger stuck in there, along with blood.

So much blood. 

It spilled over the machine, cascading waterfalls of inky red liquid as it flowed from the set-piece. Scarlett pulled out the finger.

“It’s fucking plastic. You better clean this up.” Scarlett tossed the plastic finger at Izzy and walked away.

“I wish I got to do fun set building things,” Izzy lamented, tossing a blood-stained arm over Scarlett’s shoulder. “All I learned is how to play a song at the right time!” Izzy sprinted over to a weathered laptop and clicked a button, switching the song from Big Fun to a random instrumental. The actors stopped practicing in confusion.

“Izzy!” Courtney yelled. “Just…” She pinched the bridge of her nose.    
  
“Just go away, please.” 

  
Izzy scowled.

“They’re no fun! Wanna go into the costume vault again?” Scarlett weighed her options for a second before nodding.

“Fine.”   
  
Scarlett let a suppressed smile show, just for a second as she followed her friend into the vault.

/\/\/\/\/\

“Okay, you guys aren’t doing horrible, I guess. Remember that you guys need to keep  _ in sync  _ while you dance,” Courtney said, scribbling something in her binder. “And make sure you drink from your solo cups in between lines.”

Sugar raised her hand at this.

“No, we can’t fill them with  _ actual  _ alcohol.”

Sugar’s hand shot down.

“Now, make sure you stand at the front of the stage, Zoey- it drives home the fact that you are a newcomer to the Heathers,” the stage manager commanded. “Sadie, stop fucking moving!”

Gwen watched the scene unfold with a frown. Several members of the ensemble were just talking at this point, and Courtney was growing more and more stressed.

“Courtney?” Amy said. “Can I grab my script?”   
  
“You should have the lines for at least act one finished!” 

“Courtney-” Gwen cut in. Courtney whipped around.

“ **_What?_ ** ” Gwen shifted uncomfortably.

“Do you-uh, maybe you should take a break? Like, I think if you just get some fresh air.” Gwen shot her eyes to the floor. “Is that fine? You seem stressed.”

“Yeah, but almost nobody has their lines memorized, the singing isn’t improving, they aren’t picking up on choreography, and-”

“Courtney!” Gwen grabbed her hand. “ _ Breath. _ ” The actors either stayed silent or whispered to each other. They weren’t stupid, they had heard the rumors about the goth and the stage manager.

Amy shot a smirk at Heather.

“We should record this! It would be, like, perfect!” Amy whispered loudly toward the queen bee. Heather rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

Amy took out her phone- the latest iPhone, of course- and pointed it at the scene unfolding in front of them.   
  
“Come on. Inhale for six.” Courtney obeyed as Gwen squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Hold for three. Now, exhale.” Gwen looked back to the cast and crew, who were ogling them. Amy quickly lowered her phone out of view.

“Could you mind your fucking business?” Gwen shot a glare at them as they awkwardly turned away. Her gaze softened when she looked at her girlfriend. “Come on. Let’s go get water and clear our heads. Everyone else, practice your lines!”

Gwen led the stressed Courtney out into the hallway, their hands still tightly woven together. Courtney took a sip from the water fountain, letting the cold water seep down her throat as she calmed her racing heartbeat.

“I’m sorry,” Courtney said, steadying herself against Gwen. She shook her head.

“Don’t be. You just-” Gwen paused, and thought for a second. “You just have to-you have to calm down sometimes. You can’t be in control of everything. It’s not healthy.”

“But-”   
  
“No. You aren’t some sort of superhuman. You’re insanely organized. You’re amazing. But you gotta put some faith in other people, Court.” Courtney looked up and gave a tentative smile. 

“What are they going to say about...us?”

“They’ll shut the fuck up if they know what’s good for them.” Gwen sighed. “You know it’s only a matter of time before people find out.”   
  
“Babe, we had this conver-”   
  
“I know. I-” Her voice broke. “I don’t want to have this conversation again, especially in such a volatile situation. Let’s just focus on the present for now.”   
  
Courtney smiled and leaned in. Their lips met, forming a chaste kiss that only lasted a few seconds. It was sweet all the same. Gwen pulled away first.

“I love you, you know.” Courtney smiled.

“But clearly not enough to come out.”   
  
“Gwen-” The goth sighed again.

“I’m sorry. That was a dick move. I know how hard it is- I was so scared when I came out as bi, but it was worth it.” Courtney pursed her lips.

“Let’s just go back inside.” Gwen dropped her grip on Courtney’s hand, and the two walked silently back into the theatre room.

/\/\/\/\/\

“Practice was kinda weird, huh?” Shawn said casually, hanging up a freshly stitched scarf before grabbing his bag.

“Yeah,” Sammy said, chewing on her bottom lip. “Did you bring your roller skates?!” She asked excitedly. Shawn laughed.

“Definitely. You may be able to longboard, but did you rock  _ these  _ in the third grade and get bullied for them?” He pulled out a pair of bright yellow skates dramatically.

“Oh my god.” Shawn pulled off his sneakers and slipped on the skates, hanging to the edge of the desk. He regained his balance and skated out of the room, holding the door for Sammy and raising an eyebrow.

“M’lady?” He tipped an invisible fedora. Sammy laughed and walked out the door. 

“You’re so lame.”   
  
“Thanks!” Shawn said as he skated circles around Sammy. She rolled her eyes as they walked/skated to the front of the school to grab Sammy’s longboard. 

“Courtney’s so scary, but I guess even she has her weaker sides,” Sammy mentioned, running a hand through her hair. Shawn considered this for a second before nodding.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He paused. “Do you think they’re dating?” Sammy coughed.

“What?”   
  
“Gwen and Courtney, dumbass,” Shawn said playfully as he skated along the sidewalk. Sammy picked up her red longboard, smiling as she ran a hand on the scuffed stickers.

“Well, I think there-um, probably is a chance of it, but, like, I doubt it.” Sammy swallowed anxiously. “W-what about you?”   
  
“They’re totally fucking.” Sammy gaped as she got on her longboard and began skating behind Shawn.

“Wow, way to be blunt.”   
  
“I mean, come on, do you hold your friend’s hands, look into their eyes lovingly, and constantly talk about them?”   
  
Sammy stayed quiet.

“Exactly.”   
  
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Sammy continued skating on her board as Shawn stayed on his skates. He was pretty good, clearly a bit rusty due to his constant slips, but still.

“How are you so good at that?” Sammy asked, adjusting a loose hair. Shawn chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”   
  
“You’re looking at the state champion for the Youth Ontario Rollerskating Team.” Sammy burst into laughed. Shawn rolled his eyes playfully. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“You’re not kidding?”   
  
“No.” Sammy laughed again.    
  
“That’s amazing.” Shawn shook his head, tucking his hands into his pocket.

Sammy smiled as she skated down the sidewalk, holding onto the back of Shawn’s hoodie as he glided gracefully on his roller skates. Red and orange leaves soared from the sky, falling into delicate piles to be raked up or jumped in. 

“Oh my god, let go!” Shawn said, looking back at the blonde. Sammy smirked, letting go right as Shawn sped up, causing him to slip from the momentum and tumble into the leaves. Sammy laughed for a second before her longboard caught itself on Shawn’s shoe, making Sammy fall right next to him. 

“Jesus Christ!” Sammy giggled as she tossed a handful of leaves at the beanie clad boy. Shawn smiled, laughing as he pushed her back into another pile and began covering her with more leaves as Sammy yelped.

“Stop!” She cried out playfully as she fished a pinecone from the pile and hit Shawn’s beanie off his head.    
  


“Ow! How did you even do that?” Shawn wondered as Sammy emerged from the piles of leaves, shoving them back on to Shawn. The two laughed at nothing as they shoved leaves at each other like children. Sammy leaned back onto Shawn, her face red as she plucked leaves out of her hair.

“God, that was so stupid.” Shawn reluctantly stood up, brushing leaves off his body and putting his beanie back on. Sammy did the same, holding that same stupid smile as she grabbed her longboard from the curb where it shot out when Sammy fell. Shawn held onto a tree branch to steady himself as he stood onto his skates.

They looked at each other, red faces, messy hair, and leaves stuck to their bodies.

Shawn and Sammy simultaneously burst out into laughter.

Again.

It was blissfully stupid laughter. It wasn’t that funny, really. But something about the situation had them dying of laughter.

“Let’s take a picture,” Sammy breathlessly suggested. Shawn nodded, suppressing another laugh. They snapped a quick, ironic picture with the dog filter on- Shawn giving a big grin and doing bunny ears to the back of Sammy’s head, and Sammy doing a peace sign and a knowing smile.

“I sent it to Jasmine.”    
  
“Perfect.”   
  
The duo skated together before going their separate ways, yelling goodbyes until they couldn’t hear each other anymore.

Sammy was still picking leaves out of her hair when she got home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, that was chapter 7. Again, updates aren’t as frequent, haha. I appreciate all the reviews and such. I actually wrote all of this at school a couple weeks ago… and then I didn’t post it. I’ll try to write and post the next chapter next Friday, but no promises.


	8. Chapter 8

“Places, everyone! Act One is starting in one minute,” Courtney announced, adjusting her cardigan and pushing fake horn-rimmed glasses further on the bridge of her nose.   
  
Amy disdainfully pulled on the end of her green sweater. “Ew, this outfit is like, so 80s!” The blonde dramatically flopped onto her chair, snatching a script from the table aggressively and flipping to a page. Scarlett rolled her eyes.

“Yes, this is set in the 80s. The first line is literally ‘September 1st, 1989’, dumbass,” Scarlett retorted. Amy blushed.

“W-well, at least I’m not dressed like someone’s  _ dad _ .”

Scarlett had swapped her usual sweater and pencil skirt for a blue shirt and khakis, and her red hair was pulled into a low ponytail. “It’s almost as if I’m playing Veronica’s dad,” she muttered sarcastically, taking a seat between Courtney and Eva as Amy scurried backstage.

“Begin!” Courtney called out. Sammy smiled and clicked on the blue light. Zoey began her number, dressed in her pre-popular outfit: a ratty scarf, sweatpants, and a random shirt from an obscure Wawanakwa High band concert.

Shawn leaned back in his chair, watching them perform. “Man, this is only slightly less lame with costumes and an actual stage,” he quipped, his brown hair tucked into a messy bun. Sammy shrugged.

  
“They are a lot better now, and we’re lucky we even  _ got  _ to do a dress rehearsal.” Shawn shrugged lazily, sticking his hand in a bag of Hot Cheetos. 

“Whatever,” he responded through a mouthful of chips. Sammy rolled her eyes playfully and clicked another button, bathing the stage in white light before clicking another button and turning it blue.

“God, they kinda suck…” Courtney muttered, quietly jotting down something new into her binder. Gwen squeezed her hand encouragingly. The stage manager flinched, before relaxing. The goth frowned at this but quickly concealed it.

“You’re doing fine,” she whispered. Courtney took a deep breath and nodded, looking up at the performance with a pained smile.   
  
“Thanks.” The ensemble and Zoey went on with the song. Occasionally, Zoey hesitated, but overall she was pretty good on her delivery. Gwen and Courtney watched boredly: they had seen this a million times before during rehearsals. Eventually, they got to the part where the Heathers entered the scene.

“Heather McNamara, head cheerleader. Her dad is loaded.” Ella strutted past the ensemble, who were lifting their lunch trays dramatically. Scarlett smiled as the smoke machine went off perfectly. “He sells engagement rings.” 

“Heather Duke, runs the yearbook. No discernible personality, but her nose job doesn’t look half-bad.” With the delivery of that PG-edited line, Amy sauntered in overdramatically, nearly tripping over the smoke machine as she entered the scene. Sammy rolled her eyes from the sound booth.

“God, she so full of herself,” the good twin complained. 

“Yup,” Shawn mused, popping the ‘p’.

“And Heather Chandler, the almighty,” Zoey said as Heather walked out naturally-she had practiced strutting down the hallway every day- dressed in a plaid gray skirt and a tight crimson shirt. “She is a mythic bitch.” Heather’s dark red lips spread into a smirk as Zoey continued singing.

Courtney relaxed a bit. She was surprised by Heather actually caring, but she wasn’t complaining.    
  
Soon, Zoey was forging a hall pass, and the Heathers were sizing her up.

“For a greasy little nobody, you do have good bone structure.”

“And a symmetrical face! If I took a meat cleaver down the center of your skull, I’d have matching halves. That’s very important.”

“Of course you could stand to lose a few pounds.”   
  


Within only five minutes, Zoey was apart of the traffic light gang, and Beth had a forged love note from Topher.

  
Sammy sighed as she pressed another button. The stage went dark as Scarlett wheeled in the slushie machine, and Duncan walked onstage. He and Zoey did their little exchange, and soon, Duncan was...singing.

“After refusing to do vocal training, I’m not expecting much,” Sammy admitted, picking at her chipped nail polish. 

“I think I’ve heard him singing… one time? Yeah, one time,” Shawn responded, opening up Reddit on his phone. The trenchcoat-clad boy took a deep breath and began to sing.

“I’ve been through ten high schools. It starts to get blurry,” Duncan sang softly, pretending to fill a Slurpee from the machine. Gwen elbowed Courtney.

“He’s actually not bad, what the fuck?” Courtney shushed her through a smile and wrote something down.

/\/\/\/\/\

“I’m bored!” Izzy complained, messing with Scarlett’s ponytail. She rolled her eyes.

“You know, your cue is coming up soon.” Izzy’s face lit up.

“Oh, yeah! I’m playing Topher’s daddy!” Scarlett coughed violently.

“ _ Please don’t say that ever again _ .”

“Okay.” Izzy began to stack the red solo cups boredly. Scarlett smiled slightly before frowning.

“Go, Izzy, your scene starts in thirty seconds,” Scarlett insisted, pushing the redhead out from backstage. 

Sammy sighed lazily as she turned the spotlight to continue shining on Duncan as he walked, Zoey smiling uncomfortably as she watched him.

“Oh, right, I’m actually in the next scene,” Shawn remembered, adjusting his bun and straightening his “costume”- a zip-up jacket and baggy jeans. He didn’t really look anything like “Tyler’s daddy”, really.

“Good luck,” Sammy said as he left the booth.    
  
Beardo clicked a button, changing to a lighter instrumental of Freeze Your Brain as Heather came by to pick Zoey up from the 7-11. Sammy made the stage go dark before Beardo played the next song.

Shawn and Izzy had their scene, and soon, the cast was pretending to be apart of a non-alcoholic party.

Sammy zoned out for the next few songs, aimlessly going through her memorized lighting cues. At one point, she looked up and Duncan and Zoey were aggressively cuddling- apparently, that was a bit more appropriate than acting out a sex scene. Shawn wordlessly walked back in and went back to scrolling through zombie conspiracy subreddits.

“Corn...Nuts!” Heather called out before dropping dead, her body bathed in red light as Beardo played an appropriate sound effect.

Gwen and Courtney went backstage for the next scene, getting ready to play the principal and Ms. Fleming respectively.

Sammy took the time to pull out her phone. The next few songs didn’t require much anyway.

**not.samey:** how are you doing?

**shawnofthedeaddd:** im right next 2 u dumbass

Sammy looked at Shawn, who smirked back. Sammy rolled her eyes and waited for Jasmine to respond-which didn’t take too long, thankfully.

**flowersandfighting:** haha bored. doin h o m e w o r k 4 skience

**not.samey:** ah tbh garcia can suck my dick i hate him

**shawnofthedeaddd:** wow ok then,,, also ur missing your lighting cue lmao

“Fuck!” Sammy verbally swore as she moved the spotlight back onto Heather. Shawn laughed.

“Maybe you should be paying attention instead of texting?”    
  
Sammy rolled her eyes playfully. “Whatever! You’re lucky you barely have to do anything anymore.” Shawn tucked his phone into his jacket pocket and shrugged.

“Designing costumes was hard as hell, and now I gotta play a dad.”   
  
“I’m glad me and Amy are too similar for us both to play characters. I couldn’t handle the stress,” Sammy mused.

“Right,” Shawn agreed, resting his feet on a table as he zoned out.

The rest of Act One was uneventful. A few people slipped up on their lines, but overall, it wasn’t half bad. Even Amy’s rendition of Never Shut Up Again was okay.

Heather sighed dramatically as she went backstage, dressed in her “dead outfit”, which consisted of black sweatpants and a red t-shirt. She touched up her red eyeshadow and adjusted her red scrunchie.

“Glad to see you’re finally dead,” Amy greeted, resting a hand on Heather’s shoulder. She swatted the hand away.

“Fuck off, Amy.” The blonde scoffed.

“Whatever. We need to talk about ‘the plan’, anyway.”   
  
“No, we don’t,” Heather said. “Now if you’ll excuse me,  _ my boyfriend  _ brought me Starbucks, and I need to go get it.”   
  


Heather left the room, leaving Amy to pick up Heather’s crimson phone with a smile.

  
“What a dumbass,” she muttered, using the password she had memorized painstakingly by peering over her shoulder.

She swiped around before easily finding her folder, clearly marked ‘evidence’. 

“ _ She isn’t even trying to hide it! _ ” 

Amy opened up her contact on Heather’s phone, sending it over before shutting off Heather’s phone and putting it back on the table.

“Perfect,” she said with a smirk as her own phone vibrated in her pocket, signaling to the twin that she had all the right tools at her disposal.

Five minutes later, Heather returned with an iced coffee. She narrowed her eyes at Amy.

“What has you all happy?” She sneered. The blonde hummed lightly.

“Oh, nothing.”   
  
“Right.”

/\/\/\/\/\/\

“God, I’m tired,” Sammy complained as she sipped her mediocre coffee and scribbled something down in her notebook.

“Yeah, me too. All these Winter Break projects  _ suck _ .” Shawn twirled his pencil around his fingers with great dexterity. Jasmine frowned.

“Usually, it would be  _ Summer  _ for me. Now I have to deal with all this snow,” Jasmine complained, highlighting some of her notes sloppily.

Sammy smiled, putting her notebook into her bag. “So, any of you going to the Winter Formal?” She asked, looking pointedly at Shawn.    
  
_ “Real subtle _ ,” Shawn mouthed at Sammy. 

“Eh, probably not unless I get asked or whatever,” Jasmine replied, keeping her eyes trained to her notes.

“Well, I kinda want to ask this one cool girl to the dance, even if neither of us are really into dances.”

“Oh, you should totally just ask ‘er!” Jasmine said encouragingly, sipping on her drink- which was just hot water. Sammy didn’t understand it either. Shawn gaped. Jasmine looked up after she didn’t get a response.

“Shawn? Shawn? Did you hear me?” Jasmine looked into Shawn’s eyes, her brow slightly furrowed as she peered with those soft, brown eyes. Shawn blinked twice before averting his eyes.

“I-um, yeah, I should ask h-her! Anyway, did you get ‘undefined’ for number eight on the math homework?” Sammy visibly cringed at this as Jasmine checked over her homework to see what she got.

“Right. I might. Key-word: might. My shift is starting again, anyways.” Sammy sighed, grabbing her bag. “If you need, like, a refill, you can use my employee discount.”

“This coffee tastes like shit. Don’t you guys have a ‘B’ as your health inspect-”   
  
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Sammy said, waving a hand dismissively as she put on her apron, nodding goodbye to her coworker, Jeremy, as she took his spot.

Looking around, she could tell that it wasn’t exactly busy- the only customers being Jasmine, Shawn, and a random old guy. She took out her phone and shot a quick text to Shawn.

**not.samey:** pussyyy

Shawn made eye contact with Sammy from across the cafe and shook his head disapprovingly.

**shawnofthedeaddd:** fuck off it wasn’t the right moment

**not.samey:** literally it would’ve been perfect

**shawnofthedeaddd:** well u were rihgt there so

**not.samey:** ur just making excuses 4 being a pussy

**shawnofthedeaddd:** yeah. Probably.

Sammy smiled and shut off her phone, tucking it into the front of her apron as she heard the bell sound. She looked up to see…

Her.

A perfect version of herself.    
  
Amy.

Her platinum blond hair was curly, her teal eyes gleaming sinisterly. The obnoxious mole on her cheek seemed to be especially obnoxious today. Her outfit was extremely coordinated- an indigo crop-top, tight black jeans with a belt cinched insanely tight (seriously, how could her organs fit into that tiny stomach), and stilettos that tapped, tapped, tapped angrily against the tiles of the cafe.

“Hey,  _ Samey _ ,” she greeted, folding her arms and looking up at her sister with those sharp eyes. “Nice  _ glasses _ , four-eyes.” Sammy bit her lip. Usually, she wore contacts, but right now, she donned a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. 

She swallowed back an apology. “I-um, that’s-”   
  
“Typical! Little Samey can’t even stick up for herself.” Amy looked up at the menu. “Can I get a venti iced mocha with soy milk- I have to watch the calories, maybe you should try it, you could stand to lose a few pounds.” 

“You just quote-” Sammy began to say before stopping to think about her words for a second. Amy looked expectantly at her. “Yes, Amy.” The evil twin smirked.    
  
She trudged off to make her drink quietly, listening to the distant sounds of Amy clicking her nails against her phone.

/\/\/\/\/\

“So, she took the bait?”   
  
Heather rolled her eyes. “Of course she did. Amy’s fucking retarded. She thinks she’s one step ahead of me, but really, she’s tumbling down the stairs. Or, whatever. I don’t understand metaphors that well.” Alejandro smiled wistfully.

“When do you think she’ll do it?”   
  
“Soon, probably. I already have a statement ready to copy-paste to my twitter when the time comes, anyway.”   
  
“You’re welcome for that, by the way.”   
  
“Yeah, um, thanks.” She blushed slightly.

“God, I just feel bad for Sammy. Amy reminds me of  _ Jose,  _ the little  gilipollas,” he muttered. Heather rolled her eyes. 

“Sammy is okay, I guess. A pathetic loser who won’t ever amount to anything, but not a bitch.”

“Yeah. Can we stop talking about the twins?” Alejandro asked, looking up at his girlfriend with enchanting green eyes.   
  
“I-okay.” She met his eyes. “Maybe we should just stop talking altogether.” Deep, red lips met his.

“Good idea,” he whispered.

/\/\/\/\/\

  
  


Gwen grinned as she tapped along to the rhythm of a Paramore song, her eyes trained lazily on the road ahead of her as she drove. “So, I was thinking.” Courtney gave a small smile.

“You can do that?” Gwen’s eyes flickered for a split second, the hurt fading from her eyes quickly.    
  
“Haha, very funny,” she replied stiffly. “Anyway, we should go on a date! I saw this cute new little restaurant opening up downtown.”

  
“Oh. Um, yeah! Sounds great!” Courtney smiled. “I mean, I feel like we’ve gone on a few dates recently or whatever, actually.”   
  
Gwen frowned. “Well, we were just...studying together. And, I thought it would be cool if we take our minds off the stress. Is it ok-”   
  
“Yeah, yeah, definitely. That actually sounds...great.” Courtney paused, as if she was considering her words carefully. “Um, how far away is it? I...don’t want us to drive too far.”

“Oh, right.” Gwen bit her lip. She knew what Courtney meant by that. But, the moment seemed...almost real. Nice. She wasn’t going to ruin it. “We can go tomorrow?” Courtney smiled.

  
“Yeah. Tomorrow.”   
  
They drove the rest of the way to school in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. There y’all are: chapter 8 gamers!!! Next chapter will maayyybbe be on the friday after this one. Maybe. No promises.
> 
> Anyway I really like this chapter for some reason. We’re getting closer and closer to the climax. This fanfiction will probably be 16-20 chapters long, so we got a long road ahead.
> 
> Epic!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> stuff goes down

Heather sauntered down the hallway, Alejandro’s hand steadily gripped on her waist as she smirked.

“You’re amazing,” Heather said, leaning into Alejandro’s side. 

“Has it taken you this long to realize?”   
  
“Never mind,” she scoffed, taking his hand off her waist and wiping it off dramatically, a forced scowl planted on her face. Alejandro laughed, grabbing her hands and quickly pinning her against the wall in one movement. Their faces were millimeters apart.

“ _ For an actress, you really are terrible at it _ ,” he whispered, minty breath brushing dangerously close to Heather’s face. Goosebumps cascaded across her skin as she avoided his ridiculously green eyes.

“I-shit.” She bit her lip before meeting his eyes. “Fuck you,” she whispered as she closed the distance between them. The moment was so perfect, and she wished this moment would last forever: lips pressed together beautifully, his arms wrapped around her, the feeling blocking out everything shitty around them.

Unfortunately, the moment only lasted for around five seconds.

“PDA, kids!” Amy’s annoyingly shrill voice broke through the air, shattering the perfect moment they were sharing. Suddenly, Heather was back in high school, kissing her boyfriend in a mostly-empty hallway. Heather reluctantly broke away, face flushed.    
  
“What the fuck do you want?” Heather asked crossly, folding her arms. Alejandro’s hands lingered in the little area of skin between Heather’s shirt and the top of her jeans, looking at the blonde with an annoyed expression. Amy blinked a little before smiling sweetly.

“ _ Well _ , I was just thinking that maybe we should go through with the fucking plan already.” Heather opened her mouth to respond, but Amy cut her off before she could. “And yeah, I know.  _ Oh, it’s not the right time! Or, we need to wait a week _ ,” Amy said, mimicking Heather’s speech pattern.

“Like, cut the shit. We’re posting it now. Under  _ my  _ account.” Heather rolled her eyes.

“Puh-lease, you’re just going to take credit for everything. You just want to overtake  _ me _ .” Heather stared Amy directly in the eyes. “You really think I can’t see through your plans?”   
  


Amy blinked, before narrowing her eyes. “God, you’re such a bitch! You always get what you want, hot boyfriend, school president, prom queen, every-fucking-thing!” Amy’s face pinkened. “Well, I’m not going to stand for it. This little alliance of ours is done.”   
  
Heather shrugged. “Okay, then. Have fun.” 

“W-what? You’re not...you’re not going to stop me?” Heather laughed.

“What do I need you for? If you won’t listen to me, why should I continue working with you anyway?”   
  
“I-fuck you! I’m going to do it. And you’re going to go down after them.”

Heather walked up to Amy, pulling a lock of blond hair behind her ear.  _ “But what’s stopping me from releasing it before you? _ ” Heather asked as Amy turned even redder.

“I-whatever!” she fumed. Heather laughed cockily, pushing Amy to the ground before walking to rehearsals, Alejandro’s arms wrapped protectively around her as Amy sat on the ground, red-faced and angry.

“You may have won the battle, but have you won the war, Heather?” Amy whispered, wiping her eyes as she stood up.

/\/\/\/\/\

“Alright, people, this is the penultimate rehearsal. Don’t fuck it up!” Courtney snapped, sitting down in her chair, pulling out a clipboard. 

Sammy hummed lightly, taking out a thin sketchbook to work on in her spare time. She wasn’t that good at drawing, but it was calming. Shawn laid on his back on her table, scrolling through his phone aimlessly.

“I can’t wait until we just do the damn play,” Sammy said with a sigh, sketching out a figure. Shawn grunted in response.

“What a witty conversation,” Sammy said sarcastically.

The door to the theatre room slammed open, causing Shawn to drop his phone, landing on his face. He swore as he sat up to see who it was.

  
Amy walked into the room. A confident smile was plastered over her red face. Her hair looked freshly brushed and she held her posture straight. Courtney folded her arms.

“Nice of you to join us. We’re going to watch the dress rehearsal footage soon, so go sit down.” The corner of Amy’s mouth quirked slightly as she sat in an isolated corner of the room.

Heather chuckled lightly as she looked at Amy’s ridiculously over-the-top act. She was clearly hurt- even someone who didn’t witness their fight could probably see that.

Case in point, Beardo was walking over to Amy quietly. She looked up at him, her smile flickering to a strange expression. It was a mix of multiple emotions: confusion, anger, sadness, and a dash of anxiety, a sea of feelings swirled into one face. It quickly reverted to her other smile.

“You doin’ okay?” Beardo asked, scratching the back of his neck. Amy wrinkled her nose.

“Fuck off, I’m  _ fine _ ,” she snapped. Beardo held up his hands defensively.

“Damn, okay then. Just...if you need to talk or somethi-”

“I don’t!” She yelled. The room was quiet now. Amy took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair, pretending not to notice the others staring at her.

“Anyway, I’m gonna start the video or whatever.” She rolled her chair over to the computer in the theatre room. Sammy blinked.

“Wait, I just realized- why are you running the drama club? Shouldn’t Ms. Kelly be?” Courtney waved her hands as she looked for the file.

“She said she didn’t give a shit. It’s been the stage manager’s job since I was a sophomore- she hasn’t done drama club in years.” 

  
“That’s probably not what we should be doing,” Sammy mused. Courtney shrugged.    
  


“Whatever. Here’s the video.” She hit play on the video.    
  
Sammy couldn’t even pay attention to watching the acting. Courtney and Beardo were doing critiques as it went, and they skipped over some parts, but it was still boring. 

“I kinda want to know what’s wrong with her. I almost feel sorry for her,” Sammy whispered. Shawn shook his head.

“Don’t do that.” Sammy donned a confused expression.

“Why?” Shawn sighed.

“Okay, I guess I’ll get serious, so sorry if this is weird. Anyway, people like her- toxic people and shit- don’t change.” Shawn said. “You’re too nice. You shouldn’t let someone abusive back into your life because you feel sympathetic.” Sammy brought her eyes down to think about what he said.

“Yeah, but-”   
  


“Fuck off. You’re just going to let yourself get hurt again and shit. So, like, don’t.” Sammy bit her lip.

“I guess. She’s been bullying me less, but-”   
  


“Stop that, too, dumbass. Not treating you like shit isn’t a sign of being better.” Shawn fidgeted with his hoodie sleeve. “I know I’m being serious. And that’s kind of weird. We have a- we got a bromance going on. You’re my bro.” Sammy laughed.

“But, I don’t want my bro to get hurt.”   
  
“Thank you,” Sammy said dryly.

“You’re welcome,” he stuck out his tongue. “And people are going to be shitty. People still make fun of me for the zombie thing. Especially that dick in our history class, Gage. But then I remember his mom has stage 3 breast cancer, so I don’t really take him too seriously.” 

Sammy snickered. It was nice to laugh again. “Thanks.” Sammy’s eyes flickered to Amy before looking away. She didn’t need her. Shawn was right.

“I’m changing my Instagram handle, then. My username shouldn’t be a reference to my abusive-ass sister.” Shawn nodded. 

“Now you got it,” he shot finger guns at the blonde. Sammy sent a text to the group chat.

**sammyakashawnsbro:** hey gamers

Shawn felt the vibration, reading the text before letting out a breathy laugh. “God, we’re so retarded.” Sammy nodded in agreement.

“Now, the final step to getting rid of toxic people: go yell ‘fuck you’ to her. Right now,” Shawn pointed to her twin from across the room. Sammy chuckled, pushing him slightly.

“No way!” Sammy shook her head frantically, her face heating up at just the thought.

“Pussy.” Sammy gasped.

“You wouldn’t ask out-” Shawn smacked a hand over Sammy’s mouth.

“Shut the fuck up!”   
  
“Uh, you guys both need to ‘shut the fuck up’. You guys were quiet at first, so I excused it, but literally nobody can hear the play.” Sammy blushed as Shawn smirked, slowly lowering his hand from her mouth and wiping the lip gloss residue onto her sleeve.

“Yes, stage manager!” Shawn bowed to the girl in question. Courtney rolled her eyes playfully.

“Honestly, I think we all can agree this is boring as shit, though. This won’t help us. We’ve been watching everyone go through these scenes thousands of times.” Courtney closed the video. 

“What if we just, like, watch Mean Girls instead? That’s basically Heathers, right?”

The rest of the room murmured in agreement, and Courtney looked for a decent bootleg of Mean Girls online.

“Seriously though, thank you. Now, just ask her out.” Shawn rolled his eyes. 

“Sure,” he said.

“I’m serious.”   
  
“Fine.” Sammy smiled, looking up at the screen as the slightly compressed torrent of Mean Girls began to play.

/\/\/\/\/\

Amy was fucking livid.

How could Heather have the  _ gall  _ to say those things to her? To disrespect her plans? And now, she had to watch this stupid movie while she pretended nothing was wrong. Everyone definitely believed her, at least. She was a fantastic actress- how couldn’t they?

And that scruffy, Beardo guy had the nerve to act like he was on the same level as him? The idea of her going to him for comfort was so laughable.

At least she still had the ace up her sleeve.

The video.

She had two videos, to be exact. Along with some blurry pictures of Gwen and Courtney standing together.

Amy didn’t even know why she even cared about Gwen and Courtney. Maybe she was just clawing at ways to stay powerful. But it didn’t matter. Gwen was an annoying, weird e-girl and Courtney was a bossy little dyke. When she released it, it would put her ahead of Heather. It would give her something.

But now, she didn’t have enough to make it meaningful enough. She was going to ruin her gorgeous Instagram theme for a couple slightly incriminating videos? Her two thousand followers wouldn’t care enough about that. No, she needed more.

She could follow Gwen and Courtney around, Amy supposed. But that would be too risky- she was an influential figure. She needed someone who could sneak around and get evidence. Hiring would be no problem- money or a shoutout or someone who would be desperate enough to go for superficial things like that.

Amy looked around the room. Obviously, Sammy and Shawn were out. So were Beardo, Tyler, Topher, and Duncan. They would surely fuck it up. Lindsay was loyal to Heather, and Beth didn’t value shallow things. Sugar was about as subtle as a freight train.    
  
She ruled out some more people silently. Zoey was on decent terms with Gwen. They had the weird indie/emo girl solidarity. Katie and Sadie were too loud.    
  
Amy trained her teal eyes on Izzy, Eva, and Scarlett. They looked like they could use some extra money, shown by Scarlett’s worn sweater and Eva’s dirty sneakers. Izzy could be extremely street smart when she wasn’t being stupid.

Yes, that would work.

Amy’s lips spread into a small smile, her eyes gazing up at the movie as she watched Regina George manipulate Cady Heron.

She was going to win the war.

/\/\/\/\/\

  
“Where the hell are we going?” Izzy asked excitedly, bouncing in her seat as she held her fingers up to the window, making her fingers jump through the sidewalk and climb across the power lines. 

“Stalking Gwen and Courtney,” Scarlett responded, looking out the window.

“Why?”   
  
“You were just th-” Scarlett stopped. “Because the starfishes in the theatre room told me to,” she said, unenthusiastically. She could feel her IQ drop every time she talked to Izzy.

“Oh!” Her face lit up. “I love them, why didn’t you say so?” Eva chuckled, sharing a glance with Scarlett through the rearview window as she drove.

They followed Gwen’s beat-up Subaru, Izzy switching between babbling and switching the songs on her phone. Eva drove quietly, swearing whenever someone did anything stupid. She drove a couple miles over the speed limit, but Scarlett and Izzy were used to it. 

“Where are they going?” Eva asked, making another right turn. Scarlett thought for a second.

“Presuming they are secretly dating- which, they aren’t being too subtle about, really, they’re likely going on a date far away so they won’t get seen.” Scarlett deduced. Eva blinked twice.

“Wow. Great, uh, conclusion from context clues.” Scarlett smirked.

“I try.” Izzy beamed, bouncing in her seat.

“This is why I wanted you to be my friend! You’re cool for a sophomore,” Izzy said, taking out a juul and opening the window to vape. “Want some?” Scarlett took the pen, blowing light plumes of cotton candy-scented smoke into the air.

“Wait, shit, they’re parking now. Looks like…” Eva squinted in the distance. “Broth & Basil?”    
  
“Sounds good to me. Pho is decent,” Scarlett said as Eva pulled into a parking space. She was a little bit out of the lines, but that didn’t even matter at this point.

“I’ll record for now, but we can switch later.” Scarlett pulled out a small, metal water bottle with an inconspicuous camera lens on the body. She pressed a button and held it in her right hand.

“Whoa! That’s so cool!” Izzy tried to grab the bottle, but Scarlett held it up in the air.

“It’s laced with penguin poison. Only people who wear glasses can hold it.” Izzy frowned.

“Aw, man. Oh well! Let’s just go eat this Asian shit.” Scarlett opened her mouth to fix Izzy’s politically incorrect statement, but Eva put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head, as if to say ‘don’t bother’.

Gwen and Courtney sat at a booth, holding their menus as they talked about what they should order.

“I’m thinking the chicken vermicelli sounds good,” Gwen decided, looking at the menu.

“I...suppose I’ll have the same.” She shut her menu and put it to the side, resting her hand on the table.

Gwen hesitated for a minute, before taking her hand. Courtney reluctantly reciprocated. Usually her girlfriend’s cold hand was comforting, but even in a situation where they could be open, it felt uncomfortable. Regardless of that, their hands stayed locked together.

Scarlett pointed the bottle toward the table. “Now, let’s just enjoy a decent meal. How much did Amy give us up front?” Eva took out a one hundred dollar bill.    
  
“She’ll give us one hundred more once we finish.” Scarlett pursed her lips.

“We could’ve just accepted the money and just not stalk them,” Scarlett realized, holding the bill up to the light to confirm its legitimacy.    
  
“But where’s the fun in that?” Izzy asked rhetorically, shooting the paper part of her straw at Eva, who remained unphased.   
  


“Whatever. I’m getting a large bubble tea while we’re here, then. We didn’t drive half an hour’s way for nothing.”   
  
The trio ordered their food, occasionally looking at Gwen and Courtney to see if they noticed anything. Izzy grabbed her glass of water and poured half of it into the plant next to them.

“Watch this!” Izzy ripped open the various seasoning packets on the table, pouring them into the glass. Eva and Scarlett shared a confused glance as Izzy added in sriracha, soy sauce, and the complimentary soup they were given. She stired it up and took a sip.

“This stuff is good! Lemme have some of your tapioca, Scarly!” Scarlett paused before pouring a bit of her bubble tea into Izzy’s concoction.

“You really should be more quiet,” Scarlett reminded her. “And stop calling me that.”   
  
“Never!” Izzy stuck her tongue out as she tried to grab Eva’s Gatorade next.   
  


Gwen and Courtney sat silently at the table, hands still tied together. The silence was only broken when they ordered their food and drinks. Gwen was the first to speak after a couple more minutes of nothing.

“Okay, I’m just going to say it right now. We need to talk.” The words echoed in Courtney’s ears.

“Are we…” Courtney struggled to get her words out. “Are we breaking up or something?” Gwen hesitated.

“I don’t… I don’t think so. But I’m going to issue an ultimatum.” She paused. “I’m tired of this. I’ve said it before, and we’ve only danced around the issue. That shit ends, right now.”

“Here’s your food, enjoy, ladies.” Courtney smiled politely.

“Thank you.” She grabbed a fork and moved her chicken across the plate. Gwen sighed.

“I’m not going to be your second priority. I’m not going to be such a fucking embarrasment to you that you need to hide me away. I’m not going to be your best friend.” Gwen’s voice broke. “I’m your girlfriend. Either we come clean, or…” Gwen released Courtney’s hand and bit her lip.

“Or it’s-we’re over.”

With those words, Courtney’s stomach did a backflip. She dropped her fork. “I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry you feel like I don’t care enough about you. But I do! You’re so fucking important to me, and we’ve been friends for so long, and-” she swallowed.

“I love you. And, you’re right. I’m so fucking selfish, I’m sorry.” Gwen brushed the tear that had escaped from Courtney’s eyes.    
  
“No, It’s okay. I love you too.” She smiled. “I just want to know that you love me enough to be- to be open. I know you wanted to wait until graduation, but I don’t like feeling like something you need to hide.” Courtney sighed.

“How about after the play? Just in case people don’t… take it well. I don’t want that much stress bundled up at the same time.” Gwen frowned.

“Yeah, I suppose that’s fair.” Gwen stared at her chicken.

“You know what, fuck it. I’ll at least tell my parents. If they don’t like it, they can suck my dick.” Gwen laughed, and it the moment, they locked eyes. God, Courtney’s eyes were so soft and brown and full of ambition and determination. This was it. This is what she fell in love with. And she didn’t want to hide it.

Courtney smiled, and closed the gap between them. They shared a short, sweet kiss- they were in public, after all. 

“Now, let’s fucking eat already,” Gwen said, and the two smiled as they grabbed their forks.

Relationships weren’t easy, but god, did it pay off.

/\/\/\/\/\

“Did you get the video?” Amy asked the trio in front of her.

Scarlett nodded, taking out an sd card from her water bottle and plugging it into her laptop, sending it to Amy. She smiled.

“Very well, here you are.” Eva took the money quickly. Izzy shot a glare at Amy before walking off with Scarlett and Izzy.

Amy smirked as she played the video.

The war was going to end on her terms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Holy shit, I just sat down Friday night and...wrote. I wrote this whole thing in around two sittings, and I really like it. The words just like,,, flowed from me. I’m proud of it, too. Oh man.


	10. Chapter 9.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mini chapter + i talk abt the future of this fic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tiny bit of the chapter then i talk abt this fic

“Bye mom!” Courtney called out, shouldering her overstuffed backpack. Her mother, an aged brunette, gave a small smile back.

  
“Bye, now. Remember, just because you have a girlfriend and all, doesn’t mean you should slack on your studies.” Courtney gave an anxious smile.

“I know, I know,” she replied, before exiting the house, tossing her bag in the back of Gwen’s Subaru before climbing into the passenger’s seat.

“Ready to go back to hell?” Gwen asked, kissing her as a greeting. Courtney blushed.

“Y-yeah. I’m still nervous for the play.” Gwen hummed along to the My Chemical Romance song blasting through the speakers.

“We’ll be fine, Court. And then, we can be public. And go to the Winter Formal. It’s all gonna be fine.”   
  
“God, I hope so.” Courtney ran a hand through her hair. “Mid-Terms fucking killed me. I’m just ready to go to Duke.” Gwen laughed.

“Yeah, me too, but I’m actually probably going to take time off- money’s a bit tight still, and my shitty job isn’t exactly bringing in the bank.” Courtney nodded.

“That’s very mature of you, Gwendolyn.” Gwen swerved the car sharply, causing Courtney to jump as Gwen laughed.

“Oh my god, I hate it when you do that! What if we get into an accident?” Gwen smiled.

“We won’t. We’ll be fine, Court’.” Courtney rolled her eyes.

“Whatever.” The couple pulled into the parking lot of the school, grabbing their bags from the backseat and walking into the school.

  
Something seemed off as they walked through the school. A few stares and whispers here and there.

“What the fuck is going on?” Gwen whispered. “Everyone’s staring.” 

Courtney shrugged. The duo continued walking.   
  
Sammy stood at her locker, biting her lip anxiously. Upon seeing Gwen and Courtney, she averted her eyes before walking up to them.

“Hey, Sammy,” Gwen greeted. Sammy frowned.

“Have you, like, seen it yet?” The blonde asked. Courtney frowned.

“What do you mean?”   
  
Sammy pulled out her phone, scrolling through it for a minute before turning it toward the duo.

The screen was black before fading into a video of Gwen and Courtney at the mall, revealing their relationship to Sammy. Music played in the background. The beat of the song deepened, and suddenly, the scene of Gwen and Courtney kissing at the restaurant. Gwen clenched her fists.

“What the fuck is this?” Sammy swallowed anxiously as Courtney’s eyes lingered on the video. The scene switched to Gwen comforting Courtney through her panic attack.

“I-um, Amy posted it...this morning. I tried to tell her to delete it, but…” A tear hit Sammy’s phone as the video replayed. More people seemed to be watching as tears fell from Courtney’s eyes.

“No-I, this can’t be…” her voice broke. Sammy frowned.

“Do you want me to do anything for you?” Gwen hugged her girlfriend.

“We’re just going to...go to my car. Please, do whatever you can to delete it. Please.”   
  
Courtney and Gwen walked off, hand in hand as Gwen tried to shield her girlfriend from everyone else. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god. so, this fanfiction.
> 
> I lowkey kinda hate it??
> 
> Alright, I just decided to write this for fun, without any planning, so looking back it's,,, kind of Bad. the writing itself, not bad, but there's a lot of issues.
> 
> For one, it's honestly real boring. Sammy has no impact on the story, and she's the mc??? jasmine is irrelevant, shawn and sammy have more chemistry, and the bits with team e-scope and gwen and courtney are so much better than writing sammy's arc. I found myself thinking more about how much better I could have done had I just made a gwourtney fic or a team e-scope fic.
> 
> amy makes for a half-decent villain, but i never wrote heather to get any comeuppance. she's just there to make amy feel in control while in reality it's heather.
> 
> also lindsay just doesn't stand up to heather, wtf.
> 
> Every single time i sat down to write chapter 10, it just kinda fell flat. and rereading the fanfiction, I already wanna redo like the entire thing.
> 
> show jasmine/sammy/shawn friendship better, give amy some better Villain Moments(tm), give gwen and courtney their own fanfic or just make it less of a main thing, make team e-scope a little better, and actually give heather karma and stuff.
> 
> anyways i feel kinda guilty every time i see a comment praising this fic. so i'm just gonna leave this w/ a question:
> 
> wtf do i do now??
> 
> rewrite the whole thing?
> 
> just give it a half-assed ending from this?
> 
> delete it and ghost anyone who asks about it?
> 
> yeahhh so that's this situation lol
> 
> i wrote a valdangelo fic btw so if yall are into that,,,

**Author's Note:**

> Afterword: And there you go! I had some fun writing this chapter. Please give constructive criticism, I could really use it. 
> 
> Next Chapter-July 19th


End file.
